Total real estate transactions (local and foreign transactions) hit a 6 year low by April 2015, plunging by 17.93% year-on-year (y-o-y) to list 17,816 total transactions worth $2.24B, compared to 21,709 transactions worth $2.83B. Following a partial recovery of real estate transactions by April 2014, near the levels of 2011 and 2012’s, overall activity witnessed a yearly slowdown in the first 4 months of 2015, which might be due to political and security concerns in the region.
However, figures revealed that foreigners’ share of total real estate transactions went up from 1.47% to 2.40% by April 2015 y-o-y. This could be consistent with the 23.12% annual improvement in tourism activity in Q1 2015, coupled with foreigners viewing Lebanon as a safer environment for investment than prior times.
On another note, average value of real estate transactions went down by 3.72% from $130,552 to $125,702 in the same period last year. Unexpectedly, the decrease in local demand, illustrated by the decline in real-estate transactions, and the fluctuation of international oil prices could have affected the average value per transaction.
Total Real Estate Transactions by April
Source: Cadastre