The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector rose to 997,550 sqm during the month of March 2021, up from 153,217 sqm in February. Similarly on a cumulative basis, the surface area of construction permits soared by 143.99% y-o-y to 1,195,865 sqm in the first quarter of the current year, compared to 490,126 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 (393,343 sqm <32.89%>), followed by the South (364,244 sqm <30.46%>), Bekaa (211,098 sqm <17.65%>), Nabatieh (209,938 sqm <17.56%), and Beirut (4,663 sqm <0.39%>) 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 968 sqm per construction permit YTD March 2021, followed by the North (786 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (570 sqm/transaction), South (435 sqm/transaction), Nabatieh (411 sqm/transaction), and Beirut (130 sqm/transaction) governorates.