[Dry Ice]

Finance Ministry reports hike in real-estate dealings in Lebanon

Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 16, 2008


BEIRUT: The number of real-estate sales operations in Lebanon in the first five months of 2008 rose by 19.4 percent compared to the same period of 2007, according to the figures released by the Directorate of Real Estate at the Finance Ministry on Tuesday. The ministry added that the number of property transactions went down by 3.1 percent in the reported period to reach 60,800 transactions, while the number of sales operations saw an increase of 19.4 percent to reach 28,048 operations.

This was coupled with a significant rise in property taxes receipts of 55.2 percent to reach LL204.7 billion.

The ministry said in a statement the value of properties sold in Lebanon over the past five months of this year rose by 72 percent to reach $1.993 billion.

Bank Audi said that the increase in the number of sales operations was in line with the surge in real-estate demand.

"One driver for investment in real estate in Lebanon has been the fall in interest rates on the Lebanese pound and the US dollar," Audi's Weekly Monitor reported.

It added that although property prices have been on an upward path in Lebanon, this rise has been at a slower pace than the global and regional increases in real-estate prices, thereby leading to a further interest in Lebanon's real-estate sector.

The majority of collected property taxes in the first five months of 2008 were in Beirut with 30.3 percent of the total amount. This figure was followed by Baabda with 22.2 percent, Metn with 19.1 percent, Keserouan with 11.0 percent, the North with 7.1 percent, the South with 5.5 percent, and the Bekaa Valley with 4.0 percent.

It is worth noting that Central Bank governor Riad Salameh warned recently he may ask borrowers and investors to put down 40 percent of the total of any approved property loan to prevent a future real estate bubble in Lebanon.