Real estate activity was lame during the month of November with the number of sale transactions falling by 21.23% to 6,038 and the value of transactions plunging by 20.74% to $969.04 million. As a result, the average value per transaction increased by 0.62% month-on-month to $160,490, from $159,503 a month earlier. On a cumulative basis, the number of real estate transactions rose by 55.81% y-o-y to 68,811 transactions in the first eleven months of 2020, while the value of transactions more than doubled to reach $12.27 billion. Consequently, the average value per transaction increased by 37.20% y-o-y from $129,949 at end of November 2019 to $178,296 through November 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 1.48% at end of November 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 27.65% to $731,452 by November 2020, up from $573,014 at year-end 2019 with that in the Metn region rising by 23.47% to $250,891. Similarly, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions came in 33.15% and 27.64% higher at $180,863 and $161,311 respectively.