Construction activity lost momentum by February this year with the number of real estate permits decreasing by yearly 26.78% in the first two months of 2015 to 1,966, compared to 2,685 in 2014. Noting that permits are usually issued at least 6 months after applications are filed, the slowdown in construction activity could be attributed to the escalation of the situation in Arsal after the kidnapping of Lebanese soldiers in August 2014 in addition to the declining trend in real estate since the upheaval in the Middle East in 2011. In this context, the construction area authorized by permits (CAP) registered an 18.61% year-on-year (y-o-y) downturn by February to reach 1.81M sqm.
On another note, the average area per transaction considerably widened by February from 828.82 sqm/permit in 2014 to 921.32 sqm/permit in 2015, which could allude to a possible turn in investors’ drift in favor of larger plots for their projects.
Furthermore, the number of permits in February alone stood at 994, a 24.35% y-o-y decrease from February’s 2014 level. CAP also revealed a 17.40% yearly slump to 968,250 sqm from 1.17M sqm recorded in February of last year. Worth mentioning, construction activity remained concentrated in Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon, and Nabatiye with 433 permits (43.56% of the total), 165 permits (16.60% of the total) and 116 permits (11.67% of the total), respectively.
Number of Construction Permits by February
