Real estate activity was stronger during the second month of 2022 with the number of sale transactions soaring by 45.46% month-on-month to 10,665 and the value of transactions concurrently increasing by 8.38% to $1.40 billion. The average value per transaction, however, plunged by 25.49% month-on-month to $131,548, from $176,558 a month earlier. Similarly on a cumulative basis, the number of real estate transactions increased by around eight times to 17,997 transactions in the first two months of 2022, with the value of transactions also rising by nine folds to $2.70 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 0.89% YTD February 2022, down from 1.33% at end of 2021.

From a geographical standpoint, the average value per real estate transaction in the Beirut region fell by 14.38% YTD February 2022 to $419,629, down from $490,097 at year-end 2021 with that in the Baabda region concurrently declining by 37.59% to $73,087. On the other hand, the average value per real estate transaction for the Metn and Kesserwan regions rose by 7.27% and 6.11% to $213,020 and $167,090 respectively.