The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 451,960 sqm during the month of August 2023, up from 359,020 sqm in July. Conversely, the surface area of construction permits dropped by 47.92% y-o-y to 2,807,707 sqm in the first eight months of the current year, compared to 5,391,247 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 4,920,507 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 (1,015,094 sqm <36.15%>), followed by the South (854,555 sqm <30.44%>), Nabatieh (517,773 sqm <18.44%), and Bekaa (311,009 sqm <11.08%>) 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 509 sqm per construction permit YTD August 2023, followed by the Beirut (436 sqm/transaction), South (422 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (394 sqm/transaction), North (369 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (349 sqm/transaction) governorates.