The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 361,123 sqm during the month of July 2023, up from 297,871 sqm in June. Conversely, the surface area of construction permits dropped by 53.43% y-o-y to 2,356,066 sqm in the first seven months of the current year, compared to 5,058,691 sqm during the same period last year and also came lower than the level reported during the same period in 2021 which stood back then at 4,180,557 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 (894,286 sqm <37.96%>), followed by the South (689,139 sqm <29.25%>), Nabatieh (399,533 sqm <16.96%), and Bekaa (279,250 sqm <11.85%>) 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 527 sqm per construction permit YTD July 2023, followed by the Beirut (424 sqm/transaction), South (411 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (393 sqm/transaction), North (369 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (340 sqm/transaction) governorates.