Antoine Chamoun General manager, Bank of Beirut Invest
The market is not greatly affected by politics, elections and all the events [relating to security]. Of course if the political situation is bad, some buyers or investors hesitate. But people are used to the fact that things get resolved in Lebanon. So the major effect is not politics, it is liquidity, the conditions of the loans, the interest rate, facilities, scheduling and rescheduling of loans for long periods. All of these affect the market. The proof is that since the financial crisis began, there were times when we didn’t have a president but the inflow of money to Lebanon was higher than any other period. This is because investing in land is much better than having money or gold. This is what drives Lebanese to buy a piece of land or a real estate property in their country when it is available.
Karim Bassil Chairman, Byblos Real Estate Investment
My main worry is how Beirut is being developed with no real master plan. They are letting those beautiful houses get destroyed. There is no real master plan to make Beirut consistent. How can they let people build towers when there are no towers [in a specific area] and how can they let people destroy the greenery that is left in the city? Solidere is a great example [to follow] because it is consistent. For me, it is an example of how a city should be. I would like to see the continuity of Solidere to Gemmayze. People only focus on how to make profit. It is natural. Anyone, even in Europe, would have done it this way if they didn’t have a law to follow. Hopefully one day we will have a strong system and they, developers, will try to comply with it.
Karim Saade General manager, Greenstone
People are worried about prices increasing in Beirut, and that is something normal because it is transforming itself from having a town-like atmosphere into a city center. It is like London where you have three layers in the city. You have the downtown, the city, and the suburbs where people will start living more and more because the city is going to be saturated. Beirut is developing a westernized city center. Is it healthy? I don’t know, but that’s what is happening. Suburbs and other areas will develop even further from now on because of the surge in prices in Beirut, and you will have customers for both.
David Mansour Real estate developer, Mzar Lodge, Sioufi Towers and Tilal Fakra
Lebanese people are now being attracted to areas where there is super clean air in the summer and snow in winter like Fakra and Faraya. The weather there is very nice and dry and the area is becoming full [of occupants]. The demand for chalets is huge and 90 percent of buyers are Lebanese expatriates. There is very strong growth up there. The problem in that area is the lack of adequate infrastructure. There is a problem with the availability of water and electricity. The roads have been improved but they still need a lot more work. The biggest issue is that the area doesn’t have a proper sewage system, so we have to create our own sewage treatment plant.
Nadine Khoury Marketing and sales manager, Emaar Lebanon
Dubai’s market is an investment market, while the Beirut market is an end-user’s market. The United Arab Emirates is a cosmopolitan country — you see faces only once sometimes, they buy and you don’t see them again. The culture and lifestyle are totally different and the weather plays a big part. Buyers in Dubai are definitely richer and whoever talks about loans in Dubai has already brought a lot in cash to reach that stage. In Lebanon, they study the situation before buying and whoever buys in cash is the expat that lives outside the country. So in the UAE the income is higher, and the kinds of people that buy are the tycoons of Iran, India, Pakistan, while in Lebanon it’s different. But what flies high is scary because I lived it and I saw it in Dubai. They used to sleep outside the office for two to three nights waiting to buy. Now some of them are in jail. The golden years are coming to Lebanon; the healthy market is beginning to appear. We are a real country but there it was fake.
Nabil Sawabini Chairman and CEO, MENA Capital
What bothers me going forward is that there are many people that are getting involved in the market who think it is a good business to be in and they have no clue what they are doing. I’m just worried that they might not only hurt themselves but hurt those who lend to them and buy from them. When you’re not an expert you make mistakes. Who will pay for them? It is not only your money but the investors’ money. And if you have a problem finalizing your project it will impact on everyone and on the image of the market.
Joseph Sassine President and director general, Habitat Bank
For decades, the development strategy in the country was mostly concentrated on Beirut, and all jobs were created in the capital, including universities and hospitals. Therefore it is normal for residential developments to be located near workplaces. Since Beirut is already saturated, new highways should be built. If Mount Lebanon was better connected to the city, people would find it easier to live 20 to 30 kilometers further from Beirut. Another issue in the real estate sector is that we have a current situation where there are very few Lebanese locals who can buy property in Beirut because of the high prices of land, which is reflected in residential prices. Now you tell me that it happens in all the capitals in the world, which is true. But why should we become like them? One way to solve this is to remove the old rental laws and liberate them, creating more competition in the rental market, which will be reflected in the prices of residential properties and land as well.
Hani Haddad Managing director, A&H Construction and Development
A trend in the market right now is developing bigger projects, because land is a very substantial investment for developers. If you take 500 meters and build 12 floors, your overhead is very high. For you to actually invest in a project in Beirut, you have to make a decent return on it. So all of these new projects are huge, all of them are 20 floors or more.
Chahe Yerevanian Chairman, Sayfco Holdings
In the 1990’s, many non-professional Lebanese spoiled the image of Lebanon abroad, especially the Gulf. Many of the same apartments were sold to different buyers, many projects were not completed because of a lack of financing, much of the finishing was way below the standards that were promised, and many apartments could not even be registered to the buyers because of legal issues. Therefore there should be new laws that should oblige developers to present financing guarantees to obtain a permit to give more security to buyers, so that projects are completed and only professionals remain in the market.
