Real estate activity dropped during the eleventh month of the current year, with the number of sale transactions falling by 15.62% on a monthly basis to 3,300 and the value of transactions contracting by 1.80% to $495.79 million. As a result, the average value per transaction rose by 16.39% month-on-month to $150,238, from $129,087 in October. This may be explained by the inclination of large depositors to liquidate part of their savings and invest in high-end real estate properties. Moreover, and on a cumulative basis, the number of real estate transactions plunged by 19.24% y-o-y to 44,163 transactions during the first eleven months of 2019, with the value of transactions dipping by 21.52% to $5.74 billion. Consequently, the average value per transaction contracted by 2.82% y-o-y to $129,949 at end of November 2019, from $133,715 a year earlier. It is worth noting that foreigners’ share of sale transactions rose to 2.04% by November 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 8.09% to $550,881 by the month of November 2019, up from $509,659 at year-end 2018, with that in the Metn region improving by 1.48% to $206,364. Conversely, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions plummeted by 13.07% and 8.40% to $131,601 and $123,883 respectively.