The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector, waned for the third month in a row as economic sectors continue to be crippled by the escalation of the conflict before the ceasefire agreement on November 27. In figures, the surface area dropped to 244,822 sqm during the month of November 2024, down from 268,117 sqm in October. Conversely, the surface area of construction permits came in 7.59% higher year-on-year during the first eleven months of 2024 at 4,296,191 sqm compared to 3,993,123 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 (1,763,043 sqm <41.04%>), followed by the South (1,034,597 sqm <24.08%>), Bekaa (769,511 sqm <17.91%), Nabatieh (461,836 sqm <10.75%>) and Beirut (197,102 sqm <4.59%>) 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 North region enjoyed the highest exploitation coefficient, which stood at 715 sqm per construction permit YTD November 2024, followed by the Bekaa (671 sqm/transaction), South (530 sqm/transaction), Beirut (521 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (517 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (389 sqm/transaction) governorates.