The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 585,116 sqm during the month of February 2024, up from 347,829 sqm in January. Similarly, the surface area of construction permits came in 17.62% higher during the first two months of 2024 at 932,945 sqm from 793,170 sqm in the same period last year.

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 (271,415 sqm <29.09%>), followed by the South (258,579 sqm <27.72%>), Bekaa (231,579 sqm <24.82%), Nabatieh (106,898 sqm <11.46%>) and Beirut (50,838 sqm <5.45%>) 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 region enjoyed the highest exploitation coefficient, which stood at 1,025 sqm per construction permit YTD February 2024, followed by Beirut (635 sqm/transaction), the South (573 sqm/transaction), North (524 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (510 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (440 sqm/transaction) governorates.