The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, fell to 297,080 sqm during the month of June 2023, down from 393,973 sqm in May. Similarly, the surface area of construction permits dropped by 57.83% y-o-y to 1,994,718 sqm in the first half of the current year, compared to 4,730,280 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 3,415,342 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 (769,815 sqm <38.59%>), followed by the South (590,530 sqm <29.60%>), Nabatieh (318,414 sqm <15.96%), and Bekaa (240,050 sqm <12.03%>) 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 528 sqm per construction permit YTD June 2023, followed by the Beirut (424 sqm/transaction), South (414 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (392 sqm/transaction), Nabatieh (338 sqm/transaction), and North (264 sqm/transaction) governorates.