According to the data from the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (LRC), the number of Real estate (RE) transactions went down by a yearly 27.34% to stand at 79,990 transactions by December 2022, compared to 110,094 transactions same period last year. In the same token, the value of total RE transactions stood at $14.36B by December 2022, which is 7.65% lower than $15.55B in the same period last year.
On a monthly basis, the number of RE transactions stood at 2,610 in the month of December 2022, compared to 9,874 transactions in the previous month of November 2022, and to 16,440 transactions in December 2021. In details, South region holds the biggest share of real estate transactions at 924, or 35.48% of total RE transactions, in the month of December 2022, followed by the Zahle at 476 transactions or 18.24% of total RE transactions. Furthermore, Beirut grasped 13.66% of total RE activity in November 2022 and only 1 transaction was recorded in Metn while no RE transactions were registered in the area of Kesserwan for the month of December 2022.
Moreover, the breakdown of RE activity by value for December 2022 showed that Beirut grasped the lion’s share of the total value of RE transactions, equivalent of 49.45% and worth $700.84M, while the South followed, constituting 39.23% of the total and worth $556M.
The Real Estate market has been broadly perceived as the safest investment for the Lebanese since the eruption of the economic and financial crisis. The demand for owning a real estate in Lebanon remained high compared to years before the crisis but with a slower pace of expansion compared to year 2021 and 2020. The slowdown could be justified by lower demand on Real Estate especially as owners are requesting full payments in fresh while prices are gradually increasing and readjusting to prices before the crisis. The outlook for the coming year might be gloomy given that taxes will be valued at higher exchange rate.
Number of RE transactions by December 2022:
Source: CADASTRE, BLOMINVEST