Real estate, long perceived in Lebanon as a long-term investment which would allow reaping profits in an economy of services, was in addition seen as an attractive investment due to a high number of expats and tourists willing to buy local housing for vacation purposes. However, since the beginning of the financial crisis in Lebanon, the sector has increasingly emerged as a hedging tool for depositors willing to limit a haircut on their bank deposits. Over the past years, real estate investment hunger had weakened gradually and significantly from a peak in 2012, and this weakness, which was correlated with the high interest environment for deposits, has been reversed since the beginning of the financial crisis in Lebanon in 2019. With capital controls and local currency depreciation, the impending fear of a haircut of deposits has resulted in movements from deposits to real estate, causing a price hike in the
