Real Estate in Lebanon

Beirut, the erstwhile “pearl of the orient” and the capital of Lebanon, is the 28th most expensive city in the world. Real estate in Lebanon has been the third most successful sector after banking and tourism, and has gone through significant ups and downs. Towards the end of the previous century, real estate was significantly transfusing blood in the Lebanese economy with its overall overhauling program. But, as it chiefly addressed the upper class and the gulf investors, the demand for small and middle class construction programs remained unnoticed. As a result, Beirut observed a serious inflation and a recession that had weakened the economy considerably. Liquidity vanished from the market and the home owners had to face a serious trouble to sell their apartments at a much lower price than its original.

But from a few years, the picture has started to be reverse. As against the traditional practice of family ownership of the construction industries, a recent trend of professional holding is being noticed. The country has also started to attract international investors again. Market surveys and researches are increasingly done before starting any construction, which was not a usual practice before.

Lebanon, contrary to some its neighboring countries have two additional advantages to attract foreign investments. One, its wonderful seaside position and two, its pro Christian environment are conducive for the European and American investors. Lebanese banking laws are more close to the international banking rules and regulations than those of its neighbors. Apart from the Beirut central district, the adjoining Sodeco, Hamra, Verdun and Tabaris are also enjoying the benefits of the resurrected economy. Beirut Central District and Linord are the two chief construction projects that have been decided to be deployed at the earliest.

While the plush Dubai could not take the blow of the economic downturn, this small state has effectively passed it over. According to the General Manager of the Lebanese real estate giant Solidere, this has been possible because, the Lebanese real estate business has chiefly involved the local people in both purchase and sale. Year 2007 saw the sale of over 4.1 billion dollars of property, as the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon’s statistics suggests. And in the last year, a 40% increase was seen in the real estate price due to huge demand for buying them. Land for construction is very scarce in Lebanon and this added to the price hike. This is a striking contrast with the scenario of the region, which has faced 50% fall down in the real estate price. Lebanese real estate prices are dependent on the developers because the general financial trend is positive, being the liquidity, debt and the balance sheet all are in positive condition.