Real estate activity was dull during the first month of 2022 when compared to the last month of 2021. More specifically, the number of sale transactions dropped by 55.40% month-on-month to 7,332 with the value of transactions concurrently decreasing by 40.57% to $1.29 billion. The average value per transaction, however, soared by 33.26% month-on-month to $176,558, from $132,488 a month earlier. On an annual basis, however, the number of real estate transactions increased by around four folds from 1,482 transactions in the first month of 2021, with the value of transactions skyrocketing by 481.02% from $0.22 billion. This yearly appreciation in realty figures can be explained by the strong appetite of realty owners to register their properties before the passing of the 2022 budget law which was advocating a hike in the US Dollar/LBP exchange rate on some specific transactions. It is worth noting that foreigners’ share of sale transactions fell to 0.83% at end of January 2022, down from 1.33% in 2021.

From a geographical standpoint, the average value per real estate transaction in the Beirut region fell by 4.79% in January 2022 to $466,634, down from $490,097 at year-end 2021 with that in the Baabda region concurrently declining by 21.89% to $91,463. On the other hand, the average value per real estate transaction for the Metn and Kesserwan regions rose by 11.74% and 42.47% to $221,893 and $224,356 respectively.