The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, fell to 242,880 sqm during the month of March 2024, down from 586,291 sqm in February. Conversely, the surface area of construction permits came in 7.32% higher year-on-year during the first quarter of 2024 at 1,177,452 sqm compared to 1,097,166 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 (352,256 sqm <29.92%>), followed by the South (324,435 sqm <27.55%>), Bekaa (275,364 sqm <23.39%), Nabatieh (147,071 sqm <12.49%>) and Beirut (63,594 sqm <5.40%>) 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 850 sqm per construction permit YTD March 2024, followed by Beirut (583 sqm/transaction), the South (536 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (470 sqm/transaction), North (460 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (423 sqm/transaction) governorates.