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, witnessed a marginal annual downtick of 0.77% to stand at 18,877 transactions by May 2020. Meanwhile, the value of total RE transactions stood at $3.72B by May 2020, up by an annual 52.54% over the same period. As such, the average value per transaction increased from 128,145 in May 2019 to 196,994 in the same period this year.
In addition, the foreigners’ share of the total number of real estate transactions stood at 1.56% in May 2020, down from 2.12% in the same period last year. As such, foreigners executed 58 transactions in May 2020 compared to 80 in May 2019.
In a regional breakdown, the largest number of transactions was executed in Baabda, which grasped a share of 19.26% of the total (the equivalent of 3,636 transactions) worth $474.54M by May 2020. Metn and North followed, with stakes of 13.76% and 13.04% of total transactions, worth $675.40M and $259.66M, respectively. Moreover, the South constituted 12.86% of total real estate transactions worth $303.54M 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.
Despite the marginal drop in real estate transactions, the sector remains solid overall. In fact, wealthy depositors are still seeking to buy real estate (land and/or properties), knowing that no clear decision has been made yet on potential “haircuts”.
Total Number and Value of Real Estate Transactions by May
Source: Cadastre