Real estate activity saw a drop in the number and value of transactions during the tenth month of the current year. More specifically, the number of sale transactions fell by 23.81% in October to 7,665, with the value of transactions plunging by 27.57% to $1.22 billion. As a result, the average value per transaction dropped by 4.93% month-on-month to $159,503, from $167,772 a month earlier. On a cumulative basis, the number of real estate transactions rose by 53.62% y-o-y to 62,773 transactions in the first ten months of 2020, while the value of transactions more than doubled to reach $11.30 billion. Consequently, the average value per transaction increased by 40.29% y-o-y from $128,310 at end of October 2019 to $180,008 through October 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 1.43% at end of October 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 30.87% to $749,897 by October 2020, up from $573,014 at year-end 2019 with that in the Metn region rising by 23.40% to $250,744. Similarly, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions came in 31.48% and 27.83% higher at $178,593 and $161,553 respectively.