The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, waned for the second month in a row as economic sectors continue to be crippled by the propagation of the war since September. In figures, the surface area dropped to 270,722 sqm during the month of October 2024 (lowest reading since February 2020), down from 379,713 sqm in September. Conversely, the surface area of construction permits came in 12.41% higher year-on-year during the first ten months of 2024 at 4,052,365 sqm compared to 3,604,865 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 (1,620,588 sqm <39.99%>), followed by the South (1,007,464 sqm <24.86%>), Bekaa (741,266 sqm <18.29%), Nabatieh (457,522 sqm <11.29%>) and Beirut (174,013 sqm <4.29%>) 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 686 sqm per construction permit YTD October 2024, followed by the North (592 sqm/transaction), South (524 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (521 sqm/transaction), Beirut (487 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (387 sqm/transaction) governorates.