Lebanese property developers are shifting their focus away from luxury apartments, as demand surges for smaller, more affordable housing units in or near the capital, Beirut.
Interest in high-end units is waning, amid a deteriorating domestic security situation coupled with regional crises that have dominated the Middle East for the past year, developers told The Daily Star.
“Right now everybody is searching for small apartments close to Beirut, where they can get married and have a small house – this is what we are trying to do now,” said Angelo Hani, from Etage & Terre Real Estate.
According to figures by Bank Audi, the number of real estate transactions in the first quarter of 2012 dropped 3.39% to 16,784, compared with 17,373 in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.