According to the data from the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (LRC), the number of real estate (R.E) transactions which may include one or more realties, rose by a yearly 16.58% to stand at 14,068 transactions in Q1 2020. In its turn, the value of total RE transactions stood at $2.33B by March 2020, up by an annual 43.71% over the same period. As such, the average value per transaction increased from 134,676 in March 2019 to 166,015 in the same period this year.
In addition, the foreigners’ share of the total number of real estate transactions stood at 1.60% in March 2020, down from 1.94% in the same period last year. As such, foreigners executed 59 transactions in March 2020 compared to 85 in March 2019.
In a regional breakdown, the largest number of transactions was executed in Baabda, which grasped a share of 19.76% of the total (the equivalent of 2,780 transactions) worth $300.25M in Q1 2020. The North and Metn followed, with stakes of 13.53% and 13.36% of total transactions, worth $316.84M and $436.95M, respectively. Moreover, the South constituted 12.47% of total real estate transactions worth $183.85M over the same period.
Worth mentioning that during the last 6 months the RE sector has been witnessing a notable dynamic activity. In fact, the increase in demand and prices is mainly due to wealthy investors trying to diversify their assets following the capital control and restrictions set by commercial banks.
Total Number and Value of Real Estate Transactions in Q1
Source: Cadastre