Real estate activity saw a frantic rise in the number and value of transactions during the ninth month of the current year. More specifically, the number of sale transactions soared by 35.26% in September to 10,061, with the value of transactions increasing by 39.99% to $1.69 billion. As a result, the average value per transaction rose by 3.49% month-on-month to $167,772, from $162,107 a month earlier. On a cumulative basis, the number of real estate transactions rose by 49.13% y-o-y to 55,108 transactions in the first nine months of 2020, while the value of transactions more than doubled to reach $10.08 billion. Consequently, the average value per transaction increased by 42.61% y-o-y from $128,228 at end of September 2019 to $182,860 through September 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 foreign currency withdrawal restrictions. It is worth noting that foreigners’ share of sale transactions fell to 1.41% at end of September 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 33.77% to $766,496 by September 2020, up from $573,014 at year-end 2019 with that in the Metn region rising by 21.74% to $247,388. Similarly, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions came in 33.87% and 31.35% higher at $181,835 and $166,006 respectively.