(MENAFN) Lebanon’s Byblos Bank Real Estate Demand Index was unveiled to have recorded a 31.8 percent boost during the second quarter of this year. The rise has been driven by a plan to invest USD0.66 billion to subsidize interest rates on housing loans, as explained Byblos Bank Group’s chief economist and head of the Economic Research and Analysis Department, Nassib Ghobril. It comes after the Lebanese Public Corporation for Housing declared on July 8 that applications for housing loans are to longer be accepted starting July 9. The Central Bank of Lebanon presented commercial banks with USD500 million of funds in February for subsidized housing loans of which Lebanese citizens are to use to purchase apartments.