oth the supply and demand sides in the residential real estate sector are moving away from the home-buying market towards the rental market. Developers have settled most of their debts by selling part of their inventory of apartments. They are not ready to sell the remainder of their stock amid the current plunge in prices. Low prices are also discouraging sales by those who had purchased real estate as a safe haven for their saving. The decline in supply is paralleled by a sharp drop in demand driven by dwindling purchasing power, the lack of fresh foreign currency, and low investor confidence. In the 12 months ending in May 2022, inquiries for buying apartments plunged 92 percent from the previous period and the number of owners looking to sell apartments plummeted by almost 80 percent, according to the InfoPro survey which covered Greater Beirut and parts of Mount Lebanon. The number of sales transactions in Beirut and Mount Lebanon of all kinds of real estate, including pieces of land and commercial and residential properties, increased by 35 percent to 57,253 transactions in 2021 compared with the previous year, according to data by the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadaster (GDLRC). They recorded the same growth rate in the first four months of 2022 compared with the same period of 2021. The GDLRC figures don’t accurately mirror the actual sales market over a specific period of time because many registered transactions had really occurred in a previous period. Real estate broker said: “People are rushing to register their transactions before the applicable exchange rate is raised
