Sizing up an economic sector where few reliable statistics are available is never an easy task. When it comes to real estate though, it can be an even more frustrating endeavour given that the force of rumour and speculation often drowns out the relative paucity of regularly reported, objective indicators. “Booming Properties,” “Lebanese Real Estate on the Verge of a Boom” … “Boom Time Underway” – these are the headlines that crown the public consciousness, even after the “operational pause” of the post-February 14 period. Indeed, over the past year, the local press has seen so much “Boom,” that one could easily get the impression that the real estate market as a whole is, well, booming across the entire country. While this may be true for luxury residential and tourism projects, when it comes to office space in Beirut, the reality on the ground is far removed from the over-generalized,
