During the first month of 2016, real estate activity reflected the positive vibes deriving from the political talks regarding a potential breakthrough in the lingering presidential impasse. In fact, the total number of real estate transactions rose by 12.3% y-o-y to reach 5,661 by the end of January 2016. However, the total value of these transactions slipped 4.8% from January’s 2015 value of $559.91M to settle at $532.76M during the same period this year. Accordingly, the average value per transaction tightened from $111,028 in January 2015 to $94,110 in January 2016. This is most probably due to the deflationary pressures that started in 2015 and the continuing mismatch between realty demand and supply.
As the number of foreign transactions steadied at 107 transactions in January 2016, its share of total real estate transactions decreased from 2.1% in 2015 to 1.9% in 2016. However, it was noticeable that the value of foreign transactions tumbled by 30.8% y-o-y to $29.34M.
While built units’ transactions constituted 48% of total property transactions, land transactions grasped the remaining share of 52%. It is worth noting that the former posted a 12.9% y-o-y rise in January 2016 to 2,699 transactions, while the latter added a yearly 11.0% to 2,962.
As for the regional breakdown, Beirut grasped 18.2% of total real estate transactions’ value and was followed by Metn and Baabda with respective shares of 17.8% and 15.1%. In terms of volume, North of Lebanon ranked first with 692 transactions (or 12.2% of the total volume) and was tracked with Metn (10.0% of the total) and Baabda (8.9% of the total).
The average value per real estate transaction was the highest in each of Beirut ($379,606), Metn ($166,490) and Baabda ($160,349). The lowest average values per real estate transaction were recorded in Rachaya ($9,368), Marjeyoun ($13,691) and Baalbeck ($9,210).
Total Number of Real Estate Transactions in January
Source: Lebanese Cadastre Registry