The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 405,321 sqm during the month of December 2023, up from 391,068 sqm in November. Conversely, the surface area of construction permits dropped by 59.19% in the year 2023 to 4,398,444 sqm, compared to 7,431,626 sqm a year earlier and also came lower than the level reported during the year 2021 which stood back then at 7,772,946 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 (1,495,404 sqm <34.00%>), followed by the South (1,359,297 sqm <30.90%>), Nabatieh (813,571 sqm <18.50%) and Bekaa (545,684 sqm <12.41%>) 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 524 sqm per construction permit in 2023, followed by the Beirut (454 sqm/transaction), South (428 sqm/transaction), North (411 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (393 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (357 sqm/transaction) governorates.