The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, fell to 379,545 sqm during the month of June 2024, down from 505,410 sqm in May. Conversely, the surface area of construction permits came in 22.44% higher year-on-year during the first half of 2024 at 2,440,177 sqm compared to 1,993,036 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 (852,805 sqm <34.95%>), followed by the South (649,996 sqm <26.64%>), Bekaa (484,493 sqm <19.85%), Nabatieh (305,724 sqm <12.53%>) and Beirut (121,572 sqm <4.98%>) 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 710 sqm per construction permit YTD June 2024, followed by the Beirut (538 sqm/transaction), South (533 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (493 sqm/transaction), North (449 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (389 sqm/transaction) governorates.