Real estate activity posted a mixed performance during the ninth month of the current year, with the number of sale transactions rising by 1.29% on a monthly basis to 5,821 and the value of transactions contracting by 12.28% to $800.88 million. As a result, the average value per transaction dropped by 13.39% month-on-month to $137,585, from $158,860 in August. However on a cumulative basis, the number of real estate transactions plunged by 14.59% y-o-y to 36,952 transactions during the first nine months of 2019, with the value of transactions dipping by 18.88% to $4.74 billion. Consequently, the average value per transaction contracted by 5.03% y-o-y to $128,228 at end of September 2019, from $135,021 a year earlier. It is worth noting that foreigners’ share of sale transactions rose to 2.05% by September 2019, up from 2.00% at end of 2018.

From a geographical standpoint, the average value per real estate transaction in the Beirut region increased by 7.33% to $546,995 by the month of September 2019, up from $509,659 at year-end 2018, with that in the Metn region improving by 3.76% to $210,992. Conversely, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions plummeted by 13.51% and 11.66% to $130,938 and $119,479 respectively.