BEIRUT: Lebanon’s real-estate sector took a hit in 2011 as the number of real estate transactions tumbled by 14.5 percent year-on-year as of the end of October 2011 influenced by domestic political bickering and regional unrest, reported Credit Libanais Bank in its latest weekly market report.

The report said the real-estate sector demonstrated sluggish activity when compared to the same period last year with the number of real estate transactions dropping year-on-year to 66,143 from 77,360, Credit Libanais Economy Research Unit said.

The value of real estate transactions was no exception, shedding $830 million on a 12-month basis to $6.84 billion as of October 2011.

The share of sales to foreigners represented a shy 2.02 percent of total sales transactions during the first 10 months of 2011, down from 2.04 percent in 2010 and 2.53 percent in 2009. Average value per real-estate sales transaction, however, notched up by 4.35 percent on an annual basis to $103,460 up from $99,147 in the same period last year.

The average value per sales transaction in Beirut continued to decline owing to a shift in buyers’ appetite from the capital to the more affordable areas of Metn and Kesrouan, according to report.

Lebanon’s registered construction permits, which reflect the level of future supply in the real estate sector, fell to 1,012,777 square meters during October 2011, from 1,173,893 in October 2010, according to statistics released by Lebanon’s Order of Engineers.

On a cumulative basis, Lebanon’s construction permits eased by 7.63 percent on an annual basis to 11,526,242 square meters as of the end of October 2011 in comparison with 12,478,913 as of October 2010.

As for the geographical distribution of construction permits, Mount Lebanon topped the list with a total of 6,949,219 square meters (60.29 percent) as of October 2011, followed by South Lebanon with 1,346,875 (11.69 percent), Beirut with 1,105,327 (9.59 percent) and the Bekaa region with 1,070,845 square meters.

The report said the findings indicated a shift in developers’ appetite toward more affordable residential end-users.