According to the data from the Orders of Engineers in Beirut and Tripoli, the total construction permits witnessed a year-on-year (YOY) remarkable increase of 131.95% to reach 6,896 permits by June 2021. Notably, the Construction Area Authorized by Permits (CAP) soared by an annual 196.46% to 3,479,031 square meters (sqm), mainly reflecting the high interest of investors in investing in the real tangible assets.
Compared to the same period last year, construction activity witnessed a prominent increase regionally. Across the governorates, Mount Lebanon, grasped 36.05% of the total permits, and accounted for 2,486 permits compared to 1,207 by June 2020. However, for the South, it constituted 30.67% of the total permits, its respective number of permits reached 2,115 permits comparing to 764 permits same period last year. In Nabatieh, holds 18.46% of the total permits, its share accounted for 1,273 compared to 458 permits by June 2020. In Bekaa, 679 construction permits were issued by June 2021 up from 257 in the same period last year, while in Beirut only 115 construction permits were issued down from 143 issued last year.
The Lebanese building market has been somehow rock solid in the first seven months of 2021, despite coronavirus, higher raw materials and escalated costs due to the deteriorating of the national currency. In spite of all the chaos in the country, the building industry has seen a return to 80% of its level in 2016 (8,705 permits by June 2016), just before the stop in housing loans and way before the beginning of the economic financial crisis. Consequently, many are trying to leave cities and move to suburbs, prompting an increase in new building permits. Besides, banking sector’s struggle pushed people to buy land and invest in building constructions.
Number of Construction Permits by June
Source: Orders of Engineers in Beirut and Tripoli, BLOMINVEST