A positive wrap up for real estate in 2005

Vincent Najarian General manager of C.A.R.E. real estate consultants E The real estate market, especially the high-end residential market, has appeared to ride out the crisis of 2005. Can you explain this and what is your forecast for 2006? “We remained positive throughout 2005, and are very upbeat about 2006. The signs are good. Only one week after the death of [former premier Rafik] Hariri we bought two major plots of land for some of our clients, which brings the total number of projects we manage and promote in downtown Beirut to 17. What’s more, Solidere booked record sales this year and saw its price per share increase to $14. I think there are several reasons why Beirut remained attractive for investors. First of all, the risk factor these days is equal in a lot of places. Just look at what happened in London and more recently in Amman. Or