In the current crisis, real estate stands out as amazingly stable asset class. While they acknowledge that developers and buyers refrain from immediate investment decisions into new projects, sector experts anticipate at least consistent demand if not increased property prices. Circumstances, the reasoning goes, do not alter the fundamentals that make Lebanese real estate valuable, the mountains, the climate, the sea, and the country’s attractiveness. “Investing in Lebanon is becoming more than a facility, it is a necessity. Those who are investing here are happy to invest under the freest and most democratic system in the Middle East,” said Raja Makarem of RAMCO real estate advisors. The mood is noticeably different from two years ago when the market was gloomy. Even though the primary demand drivers then and now are external, namely Arab acquisitions of high-end residential real estate in select areas, the economic recovery of 2003 and 2004 appears