Following five years of outstanding performance, the Lebanese economy entered a new era of distress starting 2011, resulting from an internal instability and a political deadlock. The eruption of the Syrian war amplified this downturn bringing real GDP growth down from 8% in 2010 to 2% in 2011, 2.5% in 2012 and 1.5% in 2013 as core drivers of growth such as construction, real estate and tourism were negatively impacted by the worsening regional and domestic conditions. GDP growth is estimated to have reached a negligible level of 0.5% during 2015 and could have turned negative if not for the initiatives of the Lebanese Central Bank.
Still, the Lebanese real estate market remained, even in the darkest times, one of the backbones of the Lebanese economy. Bearing in mind that the last 4 years were not the best of times for real estate activity, the sector kept on revealing its high resilience and its ability to adjust to the new realities. As a matter of fact, real estate maintained its considerable stake of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013 at 14%, despite the lingering political impasses and the worsening security situation on both the domestic and regional fronts…
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