OLX Lebanon, the leading property platform in Lebanon, reveals its annual property report for 2017, highlighting a redistribution of demand and supply to mid-market properties in various regions. Almost 10 million visits were recorded to the Property section only in 2017.
Throughout 2017, OLX Properties received an average of 232,000 users per month browsing a wide portfolio of properties listed for rent and sale in various Lebanese regions. Each user visited the platform 4 times a month and spent an average of 9 minutes per visit. In other words, Lebanese spent approximately 90 million minutes browsing properties on OLX in 2017.
Over 220,000 properties were listed for rent and sale in 2017 with each property receiving on average the first inquiry in less than 5 days of it being listed on the platform. The top searched keywords on OLX properties were studio, duplex, office, chalet, shop, apartment for sale, warehouse, garden, terrace, and furnished.
Lebanese are moving towards affordable housing
In this regard, John Noja, GM OLX Lebanon stated: “Lebanese are moving towards buying properties rather than leasing in addition to shifting their demand from large sized apartments to medium and small-sized, in other words, favoring convenience and affordability over big spaces. In 2017, 70% of the properties listed for rent on OLX Lebanon had a rent ranging between 250$ and 1000$ per month. And, 84% of properties listed for saleranging between $25,000 and $300,000.”
Antoine Cabbabeh, CEO of Cabbabeh Real Estate, said: “The Real Estate sector is one of the pillars of the Lebanese Economy and a major component of its GDP (around 20% along with its sub-sectors). Since 2010, we have noticed a shift of demand from large units, above 300 m2, to small and medium-sized apartments with areas ranging between 120 and 250 m2 with the buyers’ profile shifting to middle-income national consumers with budgets not exceeding $300,000.”
Demand and Supply on OLX properties in 2017:
Properties for Rent
Supply: the top areas with most rental listings on OLX Lebanon in 2017 were as follow: Beirut had 36,000 properties for rent, Kesrouan came second (10,000 properties), followed by Metn area (8,000), Aley (5000), Tripoli and Baabda (4,000 each), Jbeil (2,300), Saida (1,700), Chouf (1,400) and Nabatieh (1,000).
Demand: The most searched areas by rental property seekers in 2017 were: Aaramoun, Bchamoun, Sin El Fil, Jbeil, Tripoli, Choueifat, Antelias, Broumana, Furn Al Chebbak, Jounieh.
Properties for Sale:
Supply: the 5 top areas with most properties listed for sale across Lebanon in 2017 were: Beirut 40,000 properties, Kesrouan came second as well with 20,000 properties, followed by Metn (19,000), Tripoli (12000), Aley (11,000), Jbeil and Baabda (6,000 each), Chouf (5,000), Saida (4,800) and Nabatieh with 4,500 properties.
Demand: the most searched areas by property for sale seekers in 2017 were: Mansourieh, Aaramoun,Bchamoun, Khalde, Antelias, Achrafieh,Bsalim, Jbeil, Ballouneh, Broumana.
Ever since OLX Lebanon launched the chat message feature in April 2016 which facilitated the communication between property seekers and agents/developers, 32 million chat messages were recorded to present. These key insights and figures highlight the platform’s fast growth in the Lebanese market as well as its credibility amongst the people.
“By sharing data regularly, OLX primarily thrives to drive forward transparency in the Lebanese property market, in order to empower buyers, tenants, investors and agents to make informed decisions and play a role in creating a sustainable knowledge-sharing market,” Noja concluded.
