Published on 05 April 2006 at 05:43 pm
Filed in Property News for Lebanon » Lebanon Real Estate Review
The largest real estate company in the Lebanon has once again announced record profits; in 2005 Beirut based property company Solidere made net profits of USD 108.5 million, double its 2004 profits which were three times higher than the previous year’s profits.
The success of the Lebanese real estate company has a great deal to do with the regeneration and rebirth of the real estate market in Beirut and the Lebanon as a whole. And according to Solidere chairman Nasser Chammaa, “the prospects of growth [in the Lebanon] in the future are even greater.”
Solidere rebuilt the Beirut Central District following the cessation of civil war unrest in Lebanon and were seen by many as leading the property market in the Lebanon. For any review of the real estate market in Lebanon their opinion counts greatly.
Following the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the Lebanon very recently international property investor confidence in Beirut has once again surged. According to Solidere land sales in Lebanon are growing and interest is expanding to encompass areas other than Beirut.
In fact a great deal of land banking appears to be taking place across Lebanon - the value of land sales reached an impressive USD 1.1 billion in the first three months of 2006 alone. Of those international property developers investing in land and real estate in Lebanon GCC investors currently top those who are committing to property purchases.
An Abu Dhabi based investment company is the latest to announce property ventures with a USD 600 million project to construct residential and commercial space in the Beirut Central District.
The latest real estate project in Lebanon that is expected to draw intense international investor interest is the development and construction of the gold souk. The souk will cover in excess of 100,000 sqm and it forms part of Solidere’s Beirut souk project which it estimates will generate the company USD 65 million in rent annually.
The success of Lebanon’s real estate market continues to be realised despite continued political instability in the region; and as Solidere chairman Nasser Chammaa said at a recent press conference about the company’s continued financial success, “imagine what results we could achieve if we had a real political stability.”
