Real estate activity saw a rebound in the number and value of transactions during the month of February 2020 as some depositors flocked into the realty sector to withdraw part of their local deposits at banks in fear of the repercussions of the government’s reform plan on their savings. More specifically, the number of sale transactions rose by 32.09% in February to 6,166, while the value of transactions increased by 34.23% to $1.02 billion. As a result, the average value per transaction rose by 1.62% month-on-month to $164,762, from $162,134 a month earlier. Furthermore, and on a cumulative basis, the number of real estate transactions expanded by 37.85% y-o-y to 10,834 transactions by February 2020, with the value of transactions soaring by 67.87% to $1.77 billion. Consequently, the average value per transaction increased by 21.77% y-o-y from $134,375 to $163,629. It is worth noting that foreigners’ share of sale transactions stood at 0.87% by end of February 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 17.23% to $671,720 by February 2020, up from $573,014 at year-end 2019 with that in the Metn region rising by 14.79% to $233,266. Similarly, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions came in 10.84% and 8.34% higher at $150,561 and $136,924 respectively.