The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Lebanon, in collaboration with humanitarian partners, assessed the impact of the explosion at the Port of Beirut on the healthcare system, education, shelter and food security, among others, as at August 13. It also highlighted the needs and the humanitarian response in those areas.

It indicated that the Lebanese Red Cross, in collaboration with the Governor of Beirut and the Municipality of Beirut, conducted a rapid assessment that identified Achrafieh, Gemmayzeh, Mar Mikhael, and Qarantina as priority districts that are in need of shelter support. It estimated that 29,771 apartments, where 89,313 individuals live, have minor damages; while 17,100 apartments that house 51,300 persons sustained moderate damages, and 1,144 buildings where 30,660 individuals live, suffered heavy damages. It pointed out that the UN-Habitat is conducting an assessment of 70 evacuated buildings in the Mar Mikhael and Qarantina areas, and is also providing municipal and volunteering engineers with a mobile application to help them conduct the rapid building assessment, which aims to identify the most affected geographic areas and the level of damage. It added that the UN-Habitat is then planning to give "cash-for-rent" subsidies of $800 per family to around 800 of the most vulnerable families that had to evacuate their homes in the two areas, in order to cover housing needs for four to five months.

It said that the impact of the economic crisis on the livelihood and savings of many Lebanese will weigh on people’s ability to repair their homes. It anticipated the prices of construction and repair materials to increase, given the high inflation rate in the country. As a result, it expected that the most vulnerable households will face prolonged displacement, or live in unsafe conditions without basic services such as water and electricity. Still, it noted that more than 55% of the houses assessed were rented, which makes it easier for the affected individuals to move elsewhere.

In parallel, it indicated that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that six major hospitals and more than 20 clinics suffered partial or heavy structural damage from the explosion. It added that the building of the Beirut Governmental Hospital in Qarantina has been designated as unsecure, and that the hospital staff is prohibited from entering the facility. It said that the Lebanese think-tank Connecting Research to Development (CRD), with the help of the WHO, conducted a rapid health assessment of 55 primary healthcare centers (PHCs) in Beirut. The field survey found that 37% of PHCs sustained moderate-to-serious-damage and need rehabilitation, while 13% had injured healthcare workers. The results also showed that 47% of PHCs in Beirut are capable of delivering full routine healthcare services, while around 55% of these facilities need new equipment.

The OCHA pointed out that support in the healthcare sector is currently focused on primary healthcare, mental health and mobile medical units (MMUs). It noted that there is a need for additional support to ensure that the remaining medical facilities can continue to provide primary healthcare and mental health support, as well as to manage the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which is currently spreading at an increasing pace in the country. It added that maternity healthcare requires further support, in order to ensure that the 400 babies that are expected to be born in Beirut in the next month are delivered safely.

Moreover, the OHCA indicated that preliminary results from an assessment conducted by the UNICEF and the Water Establishment of Beirut & Mount Lebanon did not find major damages to the main water network. However, it said that access to clean water for many households was interrupted in residential buildings due to the damages. It added that a survey of 558 affected buildings found that only 337 were accessible and occupied and that 225 of these buildings did not have access to water.

In addition, the assessment showed that more than 120 schools were damaged, which may affect the learning opportunities of about 50,000 Lebanese and non-Lebanese children. It said that ongoing assessments indicated that 20 public technical and vocational education and training schools, attended by about 8,000 adolescents and young persons, were also damaged in the blast. The OCHA cautioned that the explosion at the Port of Beirut will exacerbate food insecurity, which was already significant due to the coronavirus pandemic and the prolonged socio-economic crisis in Lebanon. Finally, it pointed out that efforts are ongoing to support the national response to the explosion, and that humanitarian stakeholders are conducting further assessments of the damages and of the immediate humanitarian needs across affected areas. It anticipated that cash programs will play an important role in responding to multi-sectoral needs, given the large amount of in-kind assistance provided so far.

Figures released by the Ministry of Finance show that 37,609 real estate transactions took place in the first seven months of 2020, constituting an increase of 48.2% from 25,384 deals in the same period of 2019. In comparison, there were 33,199 real estate transactions in the first seven months of 2018 and 39,910 real estate deals in the same period of 2017. The number of transactions reached 10,393 in July 2020, up from 8,339 in June, and relative to 3,427 deals in July 2019. The increase in real estate activity in July 2020 mainly reflects the continuous migration of some deposits out of the banking sector towards real estate. Also, the normalization of activity in public agencies and departments, as the government lifted the lockdown measures that it enforced following the outbreak of the coronavirus, affected the processing of transactions in March, April, and partially in May.

Further, there were 7,153 real estate transactions in the Baabda area in the first seven months of 2020, representing 19% of the total. The Metn district followed with 4,937 deals (13.1%), then the North with 4,883 transactions (13%), the South with 4,800 deals (12.8%), the Keserwan region with 4,611 transactions (12.3%), the Zahlé area with 4,000 deals (10.6%), Beirut with 3,212 transactions (8.5%), and the Nabatieh area with 2,993 deals (8%).
 
The aggregate amount of real estate transactions reached $7.18bn in the first seven months of 2020 and increased by 137.5% from $3.02bn in the same period of 2019. In comparison, the amount of real estate deals regressed by 33.6% in the first seven months of 2019 and declined by 15.4% in the same period of 2018. The amount of transactions reached $1.79bn in July 2020, up from $1.68bn in June 2020 and from $298.2m in July 2019. Further, the value of real estate transactions in Beirut totaled $2.57bn and accounted for 35.8% of the total in the first seven months of 2020. The Metn district followed with $1.23bn (17.2%), then the Baabda region with $1.22bn (17%), the Keserwan area with $819.1m (11.4%), the South with $580.9m (8.1%), the North with $333.6m (4.6%), the Zahlé area with $223.6m (3.1%), and the Nabatieh region with $165.3m (2.3%). The amount of real estate transactions in Beirut increased by 185% in the first seven months of 2020, followed by deals in the Keserwan region (+172%), the Baabda area (+145%), the South (+139%), the Metn district (+99.4%), the Nabatieh region (+85%), the Zahlé area (+80%), and the North (+54.2%).
 
In parallel, the average amount per real estate transaction was $191,001 in the first seven months of 2020, up by 60.3% from an average of $119,147 in the same period of 2019 and relative to an average of $137,267 in the first seven months of 2018. Further, there were 533 real estate transactions executed by foreigners in the first seven months of 2020, compared to 553 deals in the same period of 2019 and to 669 transactions in the first seven months of 2018. The number of real estate deals by foreigners accounted for 1.4% of total real estate transactions in the covered period, down from 2.2% in the first seven months of 2019 and from 2% in the same period of 2018. 
 
Further, 24.4% of real estate transactions executed by foreigners in the first seven months of 2020 were in the Baabda area, followed by Beirut (23.6%), the Metn district (18%), the South (9.6%), the Keserwan region (7.7%), the North and the Zahlé area (7.3% each), and the Nabatieh region (2.1%). Iraqi citizens accounted for 31% of the amount of real estate transactions executed by foreigners in July 2020, followed by Qataris (25%), Saudi citizens (18%), Syrian nationals (10.7%), and Russian citizens (4.2%).

Figures released by the Association of Automobile Importers (AAI) in Lebanon show that dealers sold 4,622 new passenger cars in the first seven months of 2020, constituting a drop of 71.3% from 16,124 cars sold in the same period of 2019. Individuals and institutional clients purchased 979 new cars in January, 897 new vehicles in February, 468 new automobiles in March, 188 new cars in April, 651 new vehicles in May, 815 new automobiles in June, and 624 new cars in July 2020. In comparison, clients bought 1,838 new vehicles in January, 1,906 new automobiles in February, 2,190 new cars in March, 2,168 new vehicles in April, 2,458 new automobiles in May, 2,616 new cars in June, and 2,948 new vehicles in July 2019.
 
The market for new passenger cars in Lebanon has been facing increasing challenges in the past few years, including economic contraction, job insecurity, reduced purchasing power of consumers, as well as more stringent requirements for car loans. In addition, the market has been affected by the measures that banks had to put in place since last October, as well as by the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country and the related general mobilization measures. Further, the AAI estimated that importers of new cars incurred damages estimated at tens of millions of dollars as a result of the explosion at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020. It anticipated that a number of car distributors could close down and that car sales could further deteriorate in coming months. The association stopped releasing its monthly data on car sales by brand, distributor and source country since January 2020.