Real estate activity saw a frenzy in the number and value of transactions during the month of July 2020. More specifically, the number of sale transactions rallied by 24.63% in July to 10,393, with the value of transactions increasing by 6.52% to $1.79 billion. As a result, the average value per transaction dropped by 14.53% month-on-month to $171,950, from $201,180 a month earlier. On a cumulative basis, the number of real estate transactions soared by 48.16% y-o-y to 37,609 transactions in the first seven months of 2020, while the value of transactions more than doubled to reach $7.18 billion. Consequently, the average value per transaction increased by 60.83% y-o-y from $118,763 at end of July 2019 to $191,001 at end of July 2020. The solid performance of the real estate sector owes to a rush by depositors to buy real estate in an attempt to liquidate part of their blocked savings in the banking sector amid the stringent withdrawal restrictions. It is worth noting that foreigners’ share of sale transactions fell to 1.42% at end of July of the current year, 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 39.77% to $800,896 by July 2020, up from $573,014 at year-end 2019 with that in the Metn region rising by 22.91% to $249,762. Similarly, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions came in 30.77% and 34.82% higher at $177,635 and $170,383 respectively.