The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector fell to 349,101 sqm during the month of May 2021, down from 1,161,013 sqm in April. However on a cumulative basis, the surface area of construction permits soared by 349.47% y-o-y to 2,714,794 sqm in the first five months of the current year, compared to 640,004 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 (1,043,759 sqm <38.45%>), followed by the South (770,841 sqm <28.39%>), Nabatieh (427,448 sqm <15.75%), Bekaa (400,446 sqm <14.75%>), and Beirut (34,562 sqm <1.27%>) 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 North governorate enjoyed the highest exploitation coefficient, which stood at 899 sqm per construction permit YTD May 2021, followed by the Bekaa (802 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (581 sqm/transaction), South (462 sqm/transaction), Nabatieh (424 sqm/transaction), and Beirut (411 sqm/transaction) governorates.