Real estate activity was sluggish in the first month of the year 2020, as reflected by the 24.58% drop in the number of sale transactions to 4,668 and a 31.21% contraction in the value of transactions to $756.84 million. As a result, the average value per transaction fell by 8.80% month-on-month to $162,134, from $177,782 a month earlier. However, and on an annual basis, the number of real estate transactions expanded by 27.30% y-o-y from 3,667 transactions in January 2019, with the value of transactions soaring as well by just below 50% from $504.73 million. Consequently, the average value per transaction increased by 17.79% y-o-y to $162,134 in January 2020, from $137,642 a year earlier. It is worth noting that foreigners’ share of sale transactions stood at 1.54% by January 2020, down from 1.97% at end of 2019.

From a geographical standpoint, the average value per real estate transaction in the Beirut region increased by 9.14% to $625,377 in January 2020, up from $573,014 at year-end 2019 with that in the Metn region rising by 22.53% to $248,989. Similarly, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions soared by 23.46% and 21.69% to $167,697 and $153,789 respectively.