Beirut: for the rich only

"A recent study on property prices produced by the real estate advisory agency, RAMCO, shows the average price of apartments in Beirut has risen to $1.091 million. "Those who want to live in Beirut need to get richer to own property in the capital," states the study. The city's native population can no longer afford to live in it. Their income levels are very far from meeting the minimum standard of living in Beirut. The rentier system in Lebanon kicked out its original residents with mid-level income or less, turning it into a center for the filthy rich, those who benefit from the rents to increase their wealth. And this is how the system works in Lebanon. The Lebanese system, with its politics, clientelism, confessionalism, and classism, has led to an unjustified soaring of prices of apartments." (thanks Basim)