Real estate in the interim: Resettling and reconstruction

This article is part of ongoing Executive coverage with members of the Lebanese Private Sector Network on sectoral impacts of and responses to the 70-day September 2024 war on Lebanon. In the wake of devastating strikes that have turned bustling neighborhoods into craters and thriving homes, enterprises, and shops into rubble, the future of housing and real estate in Lebanon requires a major focus on reconstruction with a forward-thinking eye for sound and environmentally tenable urban development and planning. From rural homes and farms to multi-family high-rises in Beirut, the scars of destruction are everywhere, leaving questions about recovery, stability, funding for repair and reconstruction. Larger questions of what comes next for the country’s urban and residential landscapes are fraught, given the shaky state of the 60-day ceasefire and Lebanon’s central positioning between one hostile neighbor to the south and another north-western border neighbor currently experiencing massive upheaval with international