Property prices keep cool

Construction permits rise by 11 percent y-o-y up until August

The former President of the Order of Engineers, Bilal Alayli, ruled out any expected drop in the prices of real estate in the country on the short term.

“Despite the overall slowdown in real estate sales, mountainous areas have seen an increase in sales of around five percent in H1, 2011,” he said.

Figures from the Cadastre Administration of the Ministry of Finance showed that the value of real estate transactions dropped by 22 percent y-o-y in the first seven months of 2011.

Alayli expected property prices to maintain its current level with slight differences. He said that the debt of developers to banks is not substantial and estimates that the debt does not exceed more than 20 percent on average of the cost of projects.

According to figures released by the Orders of Engineers in Beirut and the North the construction area authorized by permits over the first eight months of 2011 was 11 million square meters, a five percent drop from the corresponding period of 2010.