During the first four months of 2016, real estate activity witnessed a positive performance as the total number of real estate transactions rose by 14.53% y-o-y to reach 26,597. Also, the total value of these transactions increased by a yearly 15.23% from $2.41B by April 2015 to $2.78B by April this year. Accordingly, the average value per transaction went up from $103,972 by April 2015 to $104,604 by April 2016. However, figures revealed that foreigners’ share of the total number of real estate transactions went down from 2.09% by April 2015 to 1.54% by April 2016.
As for the regional breakdown, Beirut grasped 28.17% of total real estate transactions’ value by April 2016 and was followed by Metn and Baabda with respective shares of 16.76% and 11.04%. In terms of volume, North of Lebanon ranked first with 4,413 transactions (or 16.59% of the total) and was tracked by Metn (10.75% of the total) and Baabda (8.47% of the total).
The average value per real estate transaction was the highest in each of Beirut ($523,485), Metn ($163,045) and Aley ($144,643). In contrast, the lowest average values per real estate transaction were recorded in Akkar ($17,629), Rachaya ($16,756), and Baalbeck ($12,056).
Land transactions constituted 52% of total property transactions by April 2016, while built units’ grasped the remaining share of 48%. It is worth noting that the latter posted a 10.96% y-o-y rise by April 2016 to 12,750 transactions, while the former added a yearly 18.04% to 13,847 over the same period.
The average land transaction value registered a 2.55% increase to $68,227 by April 2016, compared to $65,853 by April 2015. This was mainly caused by the increase in the average value per land transaction in Beirut registering $4.21M by April 2016, compared to $2.08M by April 2015. Besides Beirut ranking first on the regional level, the highest average values per land transaction were recorded in Metn ($151,659) and the Southern region ($119,948). The lowest values per land transaction were registered in Akkar ($13,377), Rachaya ($12,436), and Baalbeck ($10,040).
Total Number of Real Estate Transactions by April
Source: Lebanese Cadastre Registry