Mortgage sector suffers from the lack of specialized mortgage financing companies where dealing in the primary market is limited to banks only. Some of these banks rely on their own resources to finance mortgage lending activities whereas others refinance their loans through the secondary mortgage financing market. Two companies operate in this market: "Palestine Mortgage and Housing Company" (PMHC), founded as a public company in 1999 and its subsidiary " Palestinian Finance Mortgage Company."
The secondary market funding resources are limited since refinancing companies do not proceed to issuing loan bonds or bonds consolidated by securities assets noting that these bonds require a specific law for their issuance.
The Authority has issued in 2007 licensing instructions for mortgage financing companies and real estate professionals as well as instructions such as "capital adequacy "and "mortgage loans allocations " to regulate the work in the market.
The mortgage finance sector did not observe any regulatory changes during 2015 as the mortgage finance law was not endorsed during the year. Nevertheless, PCMA, in cooperation with the main stakeholders, reviewed instructions and mechanisms pertaining to the activities of the sector. The revised instructions covered the capital adequacy, provisions, and credit criteria of mortgage finance companies. In addition, the directorate reviewed the criteria used for appraising the market value of lands in Palestine.
In 2015 PCMA focused its efforts on licensing qualified real estate appraisers in a manner that conforms to the real estate appraisal licensing instructions approved in 2012, which require all real estate appraisers to receive training courses and pass an exam before receiving their licenses. In that respect, PCMA in cooperation with the Palestinian Banking Institute organized a training course in real estate appraisal and conducted examinations for the appraisers at the end of the course.