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Back to basics

As the luxury market falters, developers turn their guns to the middle class

by Executive Staff

Following Lebanon’s skyrocketing success in 2010, this year saw a much calmed real estate sector. Though many buyers have been carefully shopping around and looking for the best deals, most industry representatives contend that prices will not fall any time soon.

Because of the limited availability of land plots in prime areas, the price of land remains high while developers have little reason to sell quickly as many have relatively small debts. Therefore, prices have remained stagnant this year, while sales across mid to high-end units have slowed.

Yet, one market that has continued to grow is small-size homes, 250 square meters or less, in proximity to the central business district.

Contrary to last year’s record-breaking sales,  the statistics covering the first nine months of 2011 paint a downward slope in revenues, largely due to a 26 percent drop in sales to foreigners. In the words of Karim Makarem, director of real estate firm Ramco, “The market for foreign buyers is almost nonexistent today.”

The Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre recorded $6.84 billion in total property sales during the first ten months of the year, a 10.78 percent drop compared to the same period last year; property transactions decreased by 14.5 percent to 66,143 throughout the same period.

Supply side figures are not much rosier. The Order of Engineers of Beirut and Tripoli reported that construction permits covered an area of 12.4 million square meters during the first nine months, down by 5.4 percent year-on-year. However, cement deliveries actually increased by 7.7 percent during the period.

For the Ministry of Finance, the slowdown means a 6.8 percent drop in property taxes, down from $453 million in the first nine months of 2010 to $422 million this year.

Slow sales

“A couple of years ago, half of the project would have been sold by the time excavation was complete… The absorption rate would have been 80 percent by the time it was delivered, now it is about 60 percent,” said Makarem, who insists there is still demand for in the right areas.

Slow sales may be attributed to the fact that rents in Beirut are still relatively cheap, with residential yields only 3.3 percent of the value, the lowest in years. Conversely property prices are over-inflated, leaving increasing numbers of people happy to remain in the rental market.

The September 2011 Global Property Guide rated Beirut 36th in terms of most expensive cities to have property in, with average prices pegged at $4,258 per square meter, and average rents at $2,342.

Secondary market

Not only have foreigners stopped buying in abundance, but some have also started to sell up and put their money into other regions where they feel there are gains to be made.

“There is a surge in the secondary market,” says Zina Dajani, managing director at Benchmark, the developer behind Beirut Terraces and other residential projects in Beirut. “Some owners who had bought their apartments at the early stages of some projects during the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, and that have now come to completion, are offering them at prices that are slightly lower than developer’s prices, making an acceptable profit but not necessarily doubling their money.”

“In our project (Venus Towers), we expect maybe 20 percent [of buyers] to resell,” said Salah Karameh, sales and marketing manager at Venus Real Estate development, asserting that prices have never dropped in Lebanon.

Especially in Beirut, real estate players expect prices to be stable for a few years and then rise again.

However, others are reluctant to resell. Capstone Investment Group’s Trabaud 1804 high-rise in Ashrafieh is 70 percent sold; it launched in mid-2010. Capstone Chairman Ziad Maalouf claims that though there is a waiting list for the small size apartments “no one who bought wants to resell for profit.”

Investment and financing

In 2010, $4.9 billion in foreign direct investment was funneled into real estate. Chairman of the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) Nabil Itani says 2011 saw less investment in real estate and tourism than previous years. Given the double effect of the financial crisis and political instability in the region, it is investment from Lebanese diaspora, rather than Europeans or Arabs buying second homes, which is keeping the market afloat.

Though there is still a residual oversupply of luxury apartments in Beirut that continue to struggle to attract serious buyers, developers have realized there is huge potential demand in the undersupplied middle segment, especially in the capital. As such, developers are focusing much more on lower quality apartments in peripheral areas to fit demand. It is this segment that is most efficiently supported by bank loans and subsidized lending through the Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank.

Though developer borrowing to finance a project is capped at 50 percent by law, many Lebanese real estate firms have continued to use pre-sales as a buffer, so that debt financing is far below 50 percent. Some developers have priced their apartments at below market prices in order to sell all of their units in days, while others have used a private equity model to spur financing (see page 150). Still, leverage is limited so developers can afford to go one, two or three years without selling.

“If you look at all the unsold apartments, developers have already paid back their investment by selling 30, 40 or 50 percent of their buildings,” said Freddie Baz, chief financial officer at Bank Audi.

Banking loans to the housing sector grew by 61 percent in 2010 up to $4.5 billion, while bank loans to construction totaled $6.3 billion, up about 30 percent, according to BDL’s most recent figures. Yet Jean Riachi, chairman of FFA bank, sees little reason for optimism that current trends will continue.

“I think the banks will be more conservative with regard to lending to real estate, be it housing loans or loans to developers, because obviously the market is slowing down so they have to be careful.”

Priced out of pocket

While budgets haven’t changed much in the past few years, property prices have increased tremendously, particularly in Beirut, pricing many locals out of the central market.

The suburban area of Hazmieh has experienced increased construction activity in the last year, with the biggest Spinney’s super market in the country, a new airport link and the upcoming Hazmieh City Center only likely to increase demand. Two developments there plan to ask for Ashrafieh-level prices, according to Ramco.

In addition, areas like Baabda and Metn have experienced a revived interest in real estate activity in the past few years, while other areas like Fanar, Horch Tabet and Aramoun have rising potential.

The Mechref suburb of Beirut will soon see large investment, with Zardman real estate planning to build an ‘affordable’ housing community there. Yarze, however, “is facing a bit of a downturn because it was over -reaching and I think certain brokers there played a part in that, evidenced by [the fact that] property there that has been on the market for a while and hasn’t sold,” says Makarem.

Developers have also realized that there is greater potential in some underdeveloped areas where land is cheaper. Ramco stated in its third quarter report that developers have turned to areas such as Corniche El Nahr (in Ashrafieh) and Jnah to build housing, where the cost of land is under $1,500 per square meter, whereas Beirut’s prime land can cost up to $5,000 per sqm of built up area (see chart above).

As there are few empty plots left in prime locations such as Ashrafieh, many heritage buildings and landmarks are being torn down by developers to build more profitable towers, a phenomena many consider a crime against Lebanon’s cultural and social history. Though Beirut’s Mayor Bilal Hamad told CNN in August that developers have to get a permit from the Ministry of Culture before they can build on site of old buildings, so far less than 300 classified heritage buildings remain from around 1,000 that were documented in 1995.

Predictions

In November 2010, the director general of the Ministry of Economics and Trade predicted that Lebanon’s real estate market would grow by up to 15 percent in the next three years. With this year’s stagnation in sales and downward statistics across both supply and demand indicators, and with most experts predicting that prices won’t budge and sales may remain slow for the next two years, it seems his prediction was highly ambitious.

It can, however, be applied to underdeveloped regions around the periphery of Beirut where developers are able to buy and construct projects that cater to the undersupplied, middle-income housing market. A prime example is the success of FFA Real Estate’s first development project in Badaro, where apartments ranging from 75 to 214 square meters sold out within five days in May.

With 15,000 additional homes required each year to keep up with rising local demand, a sound real estate market remains on the horizon — as long as developers shift focus to a more reasonable, middle class segment.

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Executive Staff


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