Lebanon’s real estate sector remains a stable investment even during the country’s worst socio-economic and financial crisis. However, the spread of Corona virus weigh heavy on Lebanon and remains a massive public health emergency. In turn, the real estate activity decreased in the first month of the year due most likely to the complete lockdown imposed at mid-January.
According to the data from the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (LRC), the number of Real estate (RE) transactions which may include one or more realties, went down by a yearly 68.25% to stand at 1,482 transactions by January 2021. In its turn, the value of total RE transactions stood at $222.80M by January 2021, compared to $756.84M in the same period last year, down by 70.56%. As such, the average value per transaction slightly decreased from $162,134 in January 2020 to $150,338 in January 2021.
In details, the number of RE transactions stood at 1,482 in the month of January 2021, which was almost 3 times less than the 4,668 transactions recorded in January 2020. It also seems that foreigners performed 18 transactions of January’s total RE transactions, compared to 72 transactions in January 2020. In turn, a regional breakdown of the Real Estate activity revealed that demand on Real Estate was allocated across the different regions of Lebanon during that month. For instance, a substantial 359 transactions, or 24.22% of total RE transactions, were concentrated in the region of the South alone in the month of January 2021. Baabda, Zahle and North followed, each grasping the respective shares of 15.11%, 14.98%, 13.97% of the total RE activity in January 2021.
Moreover, the breakdown of RE activity regionally showed that Beirut is the one that grasped the lion’s share of the total value of RE transactions, equivalent of 34.56% and worth $77.01M, while Keserwan and the South followed, constituting 21.17% and 17.11% of the total, each worth $47.16M and $38.12M, respectively. This breakdown indicates that Beirut holds the highest share of the total value of RE transactions, while it seizes the lowest share of RE activity transactions with 5.4% of the total. Notably, some of the most desirable destination for living is those located in major cities like Beirut, as it is ripe with health care resources, job opportunities, and educational hub. In turn, Beirut carries the key of a high cost of living due to real estate costs.
RE transactions by January 2021
Source: Cadastre, BLOMINVEST bank