The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 393,303 sqm during the month of May 2023, up from 203,773 sqm in April. On the other hand, the surface area of construction permits dropped by 60.31% y-o-y to 1,695,720 sqm in the first five months of the current year, compared to 4,272,817 sqm during the same period last year and also came lower than the level reported during the same period in 2021 which stood back at 2,740,952 sqm.

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 (685,303 sqm <40.41%>), followed by the South (481,709 sqm <28.41%>), Nabatieh (255,305 sqm <15.06%), and Bekaa (209,524 sqm <12.36%>) 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 enjoyed the highest exploitation coefficient, which stood at 550 sqm per construction permit YTD May 2023, followed by the Beirut (422 sqm/transaction), South (416 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (401 sqm/transaction), Nabatieh (331 sqm/transaction), and North (280 sqm/transaction) governorates.