Good appetite for small flats

Real Estate market sees worst quarter in five years, report says

“The real estate market has just been through its worst quarter of the past five years,” said a report released by property advisory firm RAMCO.

RAMCO said that during the second quarter of 2011, very few apartments in the upper-end of the residential segment were sold and that a limited number of land transactions were sealed.

The report attributed the deepening of the stagnation in the real estate market to the local political crisis over the government's formation, the regional political turmoil, and tensions surrounding the International Tribunal. However, the report said that the demand is still high on small-sized apartments, between 100 to 250 m2 at a budget between $500,000 and $800,000. It said that the demand for large high-end apartments in prime areas has been curbed.

RAMCO said that purpose-built offices are in very short supply in Beirut. It said that the only available purpose-built prime office spaces are located in the Beirut Central District (BCD). According to the report, the BCD has a clear market leadership in this segment, as the estimated rental values range between an average of $300 and $350 per square meter per year in the Park Avenue area and the Beirut Souks area respectively.

The report said that the second most popular business address is Achrafieh, where the Tabaris-Charles Malek Avenue region offers high-end office buildings at an estimated rental value of around $263 per square meter per year.
According to the report, in the western part of Beirut, Verdun and Clemenceau offer good quality office spaces with an estimated rental value at $263 and $238 per square meter per year, respectively.