The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 478,636 sqm during the month of July 2024, up from 378,714 sqm in June. Similarly, the surface area of construction permits came in 23.82% higher year-on-year during the first seven months of 2024 at 2,913,771 sqm compared to 2,353,180 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 (1,064,835 sqm <36.54%>), followed by the South (752,814 sqm <25.84%>), Bekaa (570,679 sqm <19.59%), Nabatieh (359,465 sqm <12.34%>) and Beirut (134,103 sqm <4.60%>) 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 699 sqm per construction permit YTD July 2024, followed by the South (520 sqm/transaction), Beirut (514 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (505 sqm/transaction), North (483 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (387 sqm/transaction) governorates.