The Chairman General Manager at the Housing Bank, Antoine Habib, said in a statement that housing loans will be applied for electronically through an application by June 20th. Habib explained that the Bank relies mainly on the Arabic Fund for Social and Economic Development (AFESD), which is a Kuwait-based pan-Arab development finance institution. The Board of Directors of the Arab Fund and the Lebanese parliament have previously approved the loan before the eruption of the protests on October 17th, 2019. Thus Habib hopes for the implementation to be translated soon. “The purpose of the Housi ..read more

Lebanon has almost every known type of architecture when it comes to houses and buildings. From traditional to super modern – and those in between – it’s safe to say our architects, past and present, haven’t been short of creativity. There are even some houses that look like they came right out of a fairytale! Unbelievably charming and mystical, they transport you to another time. From royal European touches and delicate Arabesque details to the humble fairytale cottages and cabins that you’d expect to find in the middle of enchanted forests. Here are some remarkable ones: #1 Embraced by natu ..read more

Statistics published by the Finance Ministry showed that Lebanon’s real estate sector is a stable investment opportunity, oddly enough, during the country’s worst economic crisis to date. In fact, according to the ministry’s records, the total amount of real estate transactions reached $14.4 billion in 2020. The number of real estate transactions went up by 63 percent compared to 2019. BBC UK “Figures released by the Finance Ministry show that 82,202 real estate transactions took place in 2020, constituting an increase of 63.3 percent from 50,352 deals in 2019. In comparison, there were 60,71 ..read more

For over a year now, bank depositors in Lebanon have been struggling with the painful reality that their life savings are stuck in the banks, and they are bracing for the worst as most of their money, if not all, does not exist anymore. With political leaders arguing over the formation of a new government, coupled with the alleged financial losses of the central bank and the private banks, some Lebanese depositors turned to smart strategic thinking, which has allowed them to squeeze out whatever they can from their accounts. Early on, when banks started enforcing illegal capital control meas ..read more

Although many people in Lebanon have been making use of their locked deposits by buying property, the real estate market is suffering immensely as a result of the prevailing economic crisis, with demand reaching a record low during the last quarter. According to the Byblos Bank Real Estate Demand Index, which measures the local demand for residential units and houses in Lebanon, real estate demand has declined by 65 percent in the second quarter of 2020 (9.6 points) compared to that of the first quarter. Additionally, the index revealed a decline of 79.4 percent in the second quarter from the ..read more

In response to false rumors surrounding their sales, real estate giant Solidere, stated the exact numbers in their books for the public eye. The company reported selling more than $112 million worth of property in the first two months of 2020. To be exact, it was $112,798,400 as of February 28th, 2020. That’s just short of half of the entire sales made last year. In 2019, Solidere‘s land sales reached a total of $250,122,600.- According to The Daily Star’s interview with a broker, many people opted to remove money from the banks and buy properties as investments. The broker told The Daily Sta ..read more

The subject of a great deal of controversy in the country, Solidere is the most prominent company in Lebanon today. The joint-stock real estate company was founded on May 5th, 1994, in the aftermath of the disastrous Lebanese Civil War, to which it is directly related. As its full name implies, the Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District (English for Société Libanaise pour le Développement et la Reconstruction du Centre-ville de Beyrouth), was created to redevelop the annihilated central district of the capital. View this post on Instagram A p ..read more

Over a few months, the Lebanese have lost their trust in local banks. Generated mainly by these lenders’ restrictive policies, this distrust has caused the stakes of banks to plummet and share the same fate of most Lebanese companies. Amidst the chaos, only one major company is swimming against the powerful current of economic collapse: Solidere. View this post on Instagram A post shared by STUDIOCUBE (@studiocube_) Since it became clear for the people of Lebanon that their state’s economy was heading for the worst, they’ve been in a state of panic over what to do with their money — if th ..read more