The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, rose to 492,316 sqm during the month of August 2024, up from 479,541 sqm in July. Similarly, the surface area of construction permits came in 21.57% higher year-on-year during the first eight months of 2024 at 3,402,054 sqm compared to 2,798,472 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 (1,274,413 sqm <37.46%>), followed by the South (899,886 sqm <26.45%>), Bekaa (620,654 sqm <18.24%), Nabatieh (418,232 sqm <12.29%>) and Beirut (144,038 sqm <4.23%>) 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 670 sqm per construction permit YTD August 2024, followed by the North (606 sqm/transaction), South (525 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (509 sqm/transaction), Beirut (468 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (385 sqm/transaction) governorates.