Shaky or solid?

For savvy investors who jumped on the downtown train and bought off-plan properties in Beirut’s first high-rise towers, it isn’t uncommon to hear cigar lounge stories of 300 percent re-sale profits. Around 2005, prices per square meter hovered near $2,500 and the cost of construction was still relatively low, making Beirut cheaper than the capitals of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. By 2009, prices in Beirut had jumped 250 percent. The average registered real estate sales value also showed a 47.2 percent increase in the first five months of 2010, according to a Bank Audi report in June, though most of these sales were likely initiated during the frenzied buying spree of 2009. Nassib Ghobril, head of economic research and analysis at Byblos Bank, sees the hand of speculators in the meteoric price rises. “Speculators have been increasingly active, especially in Beirut… the price increases cannot be justified only by demand,”