Mortgage for Ethiopian Israelis — Community Mortgage, 600,000 ILS in Ashkelon

Who is eligible?

Any household where at least one criterion holds:

• One of the spouses was born in Ethiopia
• One of the spouses' parents was born in Ethiopia
• The couple is defined as "Falash Mura" with confirmed aliyah

Before anything else — registration is closed

The programme is real and the terms below are the terms it was given. But there is no open round. It was approved in the end-2016 five-year plan as a time-limited budget allocation — about ILS 120M a year, roughly 200 families a year, about 800 families in total — and the first registration window ran 1 March to 18 April 2017. Both of the ministry's programme pages now return 404, and the Knesset Research Centre's August 2025 review lists it among programmes "operated over the years" rather than among active housing aid.

This page used to send families to a bank branch to register. Do not make that trip for this programme. For active housing aid see the grant for Ethiopian olim leaving absorption centres (Government Decision 1103) — ILS 235,000 to 650,000 by family composition.

Source: Knesset Research Centre review, 10 Aug 2025 · checked September 2026.

Loan terms as they were set

• Amount: up to ₪600,000
• Term: 25 years
• Rate: 0% for the first 10 years, 2% for the next 15
• Allocation: by lottery among registrants

A ₪70 registration fee and a 5% equity condition appeared here before. No official source was found for either, and they were removed. The list of participating banks named Bank Igud, which has not existed as an independent bank since 2020 — another sign the information was not current.

Quick eligibility check — mortgage calculator.