Housing Vacancy in Beirut 2023: Drivers and Trends

This report by the Beirut Urban Lab showcases the main findings of a 2023 housing vacancy survey that covered a representative sample of Municipal Beirut, divided across its market segments.

The report accurately assesses the severity and spread of housing vacancy in Beirut, and argues that Beirut’s housing vacancy crisis is produced by a policy framework that incentivizes speculative behaviors.  The report recommends that decision-makers consider immediate and urgent policy responses, beginning by canceling the waiver from vacancy taxes for empty units. This step, the report argues, is only the first of a list of interventions needed to activate the existing housing stock in ecologically and socially responsible ways.