The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 807,256 sqm during the month of February 2022, up from 643,064 sqm in January. Similarly, the surface area of construction permits soared by more than seven folds on an annual basis during the first two months of 2022 to 1,450,320 sqm from 201,154 sqm in the same period in 2021 and came in even higher than the level registered in the same period in 2019 and 2018 which stood back then at 1,115,931 sqm and 1,439,533 sqm respectively. This may be attributed to the fact that many developers have been flocking to obtain construction permits to benefit from the relatively low fees which are still priced at the official exchange rate of the US Dollar against the Lebanese Pound when compared to the black market rate before any adjustments are made thereupon.

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 (583,534 sqm <40.23%>), followed by the South (436,453 sqm <30.09%>), Nabatieh (199,741 sqm <13.77%), and Bekaa (186,245 sqm <12.84%>) 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 1,431 sqm per construction permit YTD February 2022, trailed by the Bekaa (658 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (463 sqm/transaction), South (441 sqm/transaction), Nabatieh (356 sqm/transaction), and Beirut (196 sqm/transaction) governorates.