During the first 2 months of 2017, real estate activity witnessed a retreating performance as the total number of real estate transactions decreased by 2.0% y-o-y to reach 12,092. Also, the total value of these transactions dropped 5.3% y-o-y to settle at $1.28B by February this year. Accordingly, the average value per transaction went down from $109,445 by February 2016 to $105,737 in the same period this year.
However, figures revealed that foreigners’ share of the total number of real estate transactions barely changed going from a mere 1.7% in the first two months of 2016 to 1.6% this year. This could be linked to the foreign perception of the Lebanese political and security environment amid the ongoing war in Syria.
As for the regional breakdown, Beirut grasped 26% of total real estate transactions’ value by February 2017 and was followed by Metn and Baabda with respective shares of 18.4% and 12.1%. In terms of total number of transactions, North of Lebanon ranked first with a 16.9% share and was tracked by Metn (11% of the total) and Jounieh (7.4% of the total).
The average value per real estate transaction was the highest in Beirut as it reached $409,272, which was substantially below the average of $657,875 recorded in the first two months of 2016. Besides Beirut, the increasing demand for real estate unites (whether residential, office or retail) in each of Baabda and Metn has respectively sent their average value per real estate transaction 22% and 7.6% y-o-y higher by February 2017 to reach $182,005 and $176,747.
While real estate transactions on land plots grasped a 47% of total real estate transactions by February 2017, built units transactions grasped the remaining share of 53%. On another note, the average land transactions’ value registered an 18.3% y-o-y increase to $65,582 by February 2017, while the average built unit transactions’ value revealed a marginal 0.28% yearly uptick to $141,999.
Total Number of Real Estate Transactions by February
Source: Cadastre