Wissam Fattouh, Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Banks, attributed the sale of real estate in Lebanon by some Gulf nationals to individual decisions, denying that there is any Saudi or Gulf-wide trend to sell their properties in Lebanon and withdraw from the Lebanese market, emphasizing that what is currently happening is individual behavior and not a collective trend.

Fattouh clarified that there are no figures or statistics confirming a trend among Gulf nationals to sell their properties in Lebanon that would allow us to say this is a collective trend.

He emphasized that there is no evidence that citizens of Gulf countries (or even others) are withdrawing from the real estate market in Lebanon; despite all the political and security turmoil over the past ten years, and despite the political upheavals in the Arab region—particularly the situation in Syria—real estate prices in Lebanon have not fallen, nor have there been any signs of a price decline, which indicates continued confidence in Lebanon’s real estate markets.