Real Estate in Lebanon

[shevchenco]

Originally Posted by Lallous

Fair enough. Let's say I want to buy a 160 000 $ apartment.

Is the down payment required as an expatriate different from a local ?

Let's say I am making 50 K$ abroad per year. How do they calculate your mortgage ? Per example, you can't have a mortgage more than 28% of your income given your credit score is acceptable. What is the benchmark in Lebanon ?

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and as noted, the loan shouldn't exceed 80% of the value of the property.

[Lallous]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Banque de l'Habitat

Applies to both resident and expat Lebanese.

Originally Posted by shevchenco

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and as noted below, the load shouldn't exceed 80% of the value of the property.

According to them, it is around third of your income for mortgage, but that's insane if you consider the double bills and taxes related to the house are not included AND putting aside your children tuitions fees. Usually, the third of your income should represent mortgage, electricity, water and municipality taxes. The incentive is honorable, but far from being affordable for everyone.

[Osiris]

So, let's say you're planing to get a house for 160K USD, which is fair enough in Lebanon.. 160K USD is 240M LBP.

In order to take a loan for this house, you should pay 20% of the total price of the house, that's 48M LBP. Now, to take the rest, 192M LBP, as a loan for 20 years, you will be paying 1,276,935 LBP per month! (considering the fixed interest of 4.99%, which will surely increase)..

[Dry Ice]

LPG - Real Estate, Lebanon, Beirut, For Sale, Property, Apartment, Land

[Dry Ice]

Lebanon realty robust

Aya Lowe, sub-editor, Gulf News
Freehold Monthly
November 15, 2009

Having been relatively shielded from the global economic downturn, Lebanon's real estate market is seeing a slow and steady increase in both projects and property prices.

"Lebanese banks in general and the Central Bank in particular are very strict in real estate financing, which created a shield during the global downturn," says Georges Chehwan, chairman of Plus Properties, a local developer.

Fadi Moussalli, regional director of International Capital Group, believes that the global downturn worked to the country's advantage.

"With a large number of Lebanese expatriates living all over the world, more money was sent back to the country when American banks began failing, which led to an increase in liquidity and this stimulated the economy," he says.

Raya Mamarbachi, director of marketing and strategy at online realty agency simplyzigzag.com, expects the market to continue its upward climb. "Realty values in Lebanon are now 20 per cent higher than this time last year and are set to continue growing by another 10 to 15 per cent over the next six months," she says.Sales may also increase. Elie Harb, president of Coldwell Banker Lebanon, predicts transactions will increase by the year end. "Traditionally, there's always a rush in registering property in December because of the deadlines," says Harb.Chehwan says the market has been boosted by overseas Lebanese and GCC investors, who are drawn to the high ROI (return on investment) and the surplus liquidity that's available in Lebanon's private sector. "The steadily recovering economy and the fact that the majority of people investing in real estate in Lebanon are end-users has given the market added stability." he adds.

Another positive sign is that some banks have relaxed their lending criteria over the past three months, says Harb. "Some banks which were offering 50 per cent LTV (loan to value) are now offering up to 70 per cent."

The scarcity of land combined with the fact that supply isn't keeping up with demand has led to rising prices, says Harb.

"The area in Downtown Beirut overlooking the marina now fetches $7,000-$10,000/m² whereas previously it was lower," notes Mamarbachi.

While some areas in Beirut are unaffordable for middle income earners, areas such as Mar Mkhael and Sioufi are reasonably priced, says Mamarbachi. Developments to look out for include Sama Beirut near Sodeco, she says. "It's a 50-storey skyscraper in Beirut - something this large has never been seen before."

[J. Abizeid]

Can someone tell us what happened in Dubai and how many Lebanese employees lost their jobs and came back to Lebanon looking for work and how this will affect the demand on luxury real estate in Lebanon?

[Saladin]

Originally Posted by Osiris

So, let's say you're planing to get a house for 160K USD, which is fair enough in Lebanon.. 160K USD is 240M LBP.

In order to take a loan for this house, you should pay 20% of the total price of the house, that's 48M LBP. Now, to take the rest, 192M LBP, as a loan for 20 years, you will be paying 1,276,935 LBP per month! (considering the fixed interest of 4.99%, which will surely increase)..

You can't buy a house in Beirut with this amount of money.