The love is gone

The happy marriage between Mr. Bank and Ms. Real Estate seems to have lost some of its luster of late, becoming more of a relationship that both parties are resigned to accept for the sake of keeping the house — Lebanon — together. On the surface, if we do the math, there is no need for the couple to seek counseling over the current exposure of Lebanese banks to the real estate sector. Out of the $44 billion which was lent to the private sector by Lebanese banks last year, a total of $13 billion was handed to the real estate sector in the form of housing loans or construction loans — that is around 30 percent of the total private sector loan book of banks and 19 percent of the total loan book. By comparison, the Spanish real estate and housing market, which is under severe pressure, accounts for