The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector stood at 542,636 sqm during the month of July 2020, up from 485,165 sqm in June. However on a cumulative basis, the surface area of construction permits plunged by 50.17% y-o-y to 1,627,561 sqm in the first seven months of the current year, compared to 3,265,933 sqm during that same period last year.

As far as the geographical distribution of construction permits is concerned, the Mount Lebanon region continued to control the lion’s share of the total surface area of issued permits (690,682 sqm <42.44%>), followed by the South (450,384 sqm <27.67%>), Nabatieh (243,544 sqm <14.96%>), Bekaa (179,813 sqm <11.05%), and Beirut (45,948 sqm <2.82%>) regions. It is worth noting that figures for the North governorate are underestimated since they exclude permits issued by the North Order of Engineers.

The Bekaa governorate enjoyed the highest exploitation coefficient, which stood at 476 sqm per construction permit in the first seven months of 2020, followed by the North (409 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (398 sqm/transaction), South (383 sqm/transaction), Nabatieh (340 sqm/transaction), and Beirut (247 sqm/transaction) governorates.