The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector rose to 153,164 sqm during the month of February 2021, up from 45,098 sqm in January. On a cumulative basis, however, the surface area of construction permits plunged by 51.42% y-o-y to 198,262 sqm in the first two months of the current year, compared to 408,077 sqm during the 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 (78,548 sqm <39.62%>), followed by the South (49,311 sqm <24.87%>), Bekaa (35,147 sqm <17.73%>), Nabatieh (32,702 sqm <16.49%), and Beirut (1,802 sqm <0.91%>) 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 703 sqm per construction permit YTD February 2021, followed by Mount Lebanon (473 sqm/transaction), Nabatieh (385 sqm/transaction), South (382 sqm/transaction), the North (251 sqm/transaction), and Beirut (150 sqm/transaction) governorates.