Number of Construction Permits Recovered from Last Year’s Low Level

As the latest figures released by the Orders of Engineers in Beirut and the North revealed, the number of permits rose by 15.03% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 11,289 by August 2016, compared to 9,814 during the same period in 2015.

Noting that permits are usually issued at least 6 months after applications are filed, the growth in construction activity could be partly attributed to contractors’ optimism during the first 2 months of the year. In addition the recovering security situation in the North was reflected by the number of permits in this area, which escalated from 1,091 by August 2015 to 1,937 by August 2016. Moreover, the North’s share of total construction permits issued increased from 11.12% by August 2015 to 17.16% by August 2016.

However, the construction area authorized by permits (CAP) plunged from 8.22M sqm by August 2015 to 7.93M sqm by August 2016. Hence, the average area per transaction fell from 837.37 sqm/permit by August 2015 to 702.57 sqm/permit by August 2016. This fall in CAP signifies that investors are shifting to smaller construction areas for their projects.

Moreover, the largest shares of issued permits were concentrated in Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon, and Nabatiye with 4,104 permits (36.5% of the total), 2,098 permits (18.58% of the total) and 1,611 permits (13.89% of the total), respectively.

Number of Construction Permits by August

Number of Construction Permits Recovered from Last Year’s Low Level

Source: Orders of Engineers in Beirut & Tripoli

 

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