Real estate activity rose markedly in the third month of 2021 as a result of the government’s decision to lift the lockdown that was previously imposed. In details, the number of sale transactions soared by 1786.42% month-on-month to 11,111 in March and the value of transactions skyrocketed by 2879.32% to $2.01 billion. Consequently, the average value per transaction rose by 57.94% month-on-month to $180,905, from $114,544 a month earlier. On a cumulative basis however, the number of real estate transactions fell by 6.30% y-o-y to 13,182 transactions in the first quarter of 2021, with the value of transactions dropping concurrently by 1.51% to $2.30 billion. It is worth noting that foreigners’ share of sale transactions fell to 1.30% by end of March 2021, down from 1.53% at end of 2020.

From a geographical standpoint, the average value per real estate transaction in the Beirut region fell by 14.10% to $596,001 by March 2021, down from $693,797 at year-end 2020 with that in the Metn region declining by 1.24% to $254,592. On the other hand, the average value per transaction in each of the Kesserwan and Baabda regions came in 8.22% and 27.50% higher at $189,849 and $198,900 respectively.