I own an apartment in Israel outright. Can I borrow against it from France without selling?

There is a particular moment that brings French owners to this question: the Paris apartment needs work, or a child is buying, and the Israeli flat in Netanya has been sitting unencumbered for fifteen years. Israeli banks do lend against it. What they will not do is lend the amount most owners have in mind, because the ceiling is set by the regulator rather than by the branch manager, and it is half the value of the property.

---

Detailed Answer

Israeli banking regulation distinguishes a housing loan taken to acquire a right in a property from a housing loan taken for any other purpose but secured on a residence, which is known as an all-purpose loan, in Hebrew a mashkanta lekol matara. Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 329, issued by the Supervisor of Banks, sets the loan-to-value limits, and for an all-purpose loan backed by a residence the ratio may not exceed 50% of the value of the dwelling. The same directive caps a foreign resident buying an Israeli property at 50%, and defines a foreign resident as anyone who is not an Israeli citizen for the purposes of the single-apartment and replacement-apartment categories. The Supervisor has made permanent a relief allowing a bank to approve an all-purpose loan even where the loan-to-value ratio exceeds 70%, provided that the portion of the loan above a 50% ratio does not exceed NIS 200,000, and the maximum property value figure used in the directive's calculations is updated in line with the Consumer Price Index. That relief was designed for Israeli households needing a modest top-up, and a bank's own credit policy for a borrower with a foreign address and foreign income will normally stop at 50% regardless.

The valuation and documentation side is where a non-resident file actually stalls. The bank instructs its own appraiser, whose figure is what the 50% applies to and is commonly below the market price a local agent would quote, and the appraisal is at the borrower's cost. Income has to be proved in a currency and format an Israeli underwriter can read, which for a French borrower means translated tax notices and payslips or accountant's certificates rather than an attestation from your bank. The charge is then registered against the property in the Land Registry, and if the apartment sits in a housing company register or is unregistered, that step alone can add months. Everything can be done through a power of attorney executed before a notary in France and apostilled; since 1 May 2025 French apostilles are issued by notaries and are free of charge, which removes one of the traditional delays. Expect a compliance review of the source of the funds you intend to use for repayment, because a loan serviced from abroad triggers the same anti-money-laundering questions as an incoming transfer. If the underlying question is whether a non-resident can get any Israeli mortgage at all, the eligibility and pricing picture is set out in our answer on whether a non-resident can get a mortgage in Israel.

In Practice: Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 329, issued by the Supervisor of Banks at the Bank of Israel, caps an all-purpose loan secured on a residence at 50% of the dwelling's value, the same ceiling that applies to a foreign resident buying. A permanent relief allows a ratio above 70% only where the portion above 50% does not exceed NIS 200,000. The bank's appraisal governs the value, the charge is registered in the Land Registry, and a non-resident file from application to drawdown commonly takes two to four months, longer where the apartment is not registered in the borrower's name in the Tabu.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The apartment is not registered in your name in the Land Registry. A charge cannot be registered over rights that are recorded only with a housing company or a developer, and the bank will require the registration to be completed first, which for an inherited or unregistered flat is a project in its own right.
• The property is co-owned with siblings or held under a succession order. Every registered owner must sign the charge, and one heir abroad who declines to mortgage the family flat can stop the transaction outright, however small their share.
• You intend to use the money outside Israel. Drawing an Israeli loan and remitting the proceeds abroad raises both a compliance review at the bank and a question about deductibility of the interest in your home country, and the two are worth resolving before the facility is signed rather than after.

---

Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We handle the Land Registry side of an all-purpose loan for owners abroad, deal with the appraisal and the charge registration, and clear the title problems that stop a non-resident file before the bank ever reaches a credit decision.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.