Real estate market drops by 16%

Although being a key driver for the Lebanese economy, the real estate market has slowed down in the past years, plunging the economy into recession. This decline caused a fall in state revenues from fees and taxes on real estate transactions. In 2018, the volume of real estate transactions amounted to USD 8.1 billion (according to what is declared in the sales contracts registered with the Land Registration Services, excluding the undeclared contracts signed by the notaries and mukhtars) compared to USD 9.4 billion in 2010, i.e. a decline of USD 1.344 billion (14.1%). Such volume has slumped in 2019 to about USD 6.8 billion, i.e. a decline of USD 1.3 billion (16%) compared to 2018. The following table shows the volume of real estate transactions during 2009- 2019. 

A table showing the volume of real estate transactions for the period between 2009 and 2019.

Source: Directorate General of Land Registry and Cadastre.