The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 386,293 sqm during the month of April 2024, up from 243,109 sqm in March. Similarly, the surface area of construction permits came in 20.45% higher year-on-year during the first four months of 2024 at 1,564,709 sqm compared to 1,299,074 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 (494,508 sqm <31.60%>), followed by the South (432,369 sqm <27.63%>), Bekaa (328,167 sqm <20.97%), Nabatieh (198,399 sqm <12.68%>) and Beirut (93,382 sqm <5.97%>) 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 756 sqm per construction permit YTD April 2024, followed by the Beirut (658 sqm/transaction), South (552 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (483 sqm/transaction), North (459 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (419 sqm/transaction) governorates.