The Statistical Center of Iran has published its latest report on home and land prices as well as rents in Iran’s urban areas during the second quarter of the current fiscal year (June 21-Sept. 21).
According to the report published on the website of SCI, the average price of each square meter of land or land of a rundown residential property (residential units that are considered old to a degree that only the underlying land is useful for construction) in Iranian cities went up by 101.8% during the second quarter compared with the corresponding period of the year before.
Prices increased by 28.4% compared with the preceding quarter (Q1 of the current Iranian year.)
The minimum price of each square meter of land or land of a rundown property in the capital city stood at 1.13 million rials ($4.43) while the maximum was at 1.55 billion rials ($6,078), bringing the average to 73.34 million rials ($287).
The number of land deals during the current Iranian year’s Q2 increased by 151.2% compared with the similar period of last year and 86.7% when compared with the first quarter of the current year.
The average area of each dealt land or land of a rundown property in real-estate agencies across Iranian cities was reportedly 267 square meters.
The report shows that the average price of each square meter of residential floor area in urban areas surged by 95.8% in Q2 on a year-on-year basis. Compared with the previous quarter, prices indicated a growth of 24.8%.
The minimum price of each square meter of residential floor area across urban areas during Q2 stood at 2.51 million rials ($9.8) while the maximum price reached 1.3 billion rials ($5,098). The average price was at 71.72 million rials ($281).
In terms of the number of deals for residential floor areas, the current year’s Q2 saw a growth of 74.2% compared with the Q2 of last year. Against Q1 of the current year, the number of such deals registered an increase of 33.8%.
SCI put the average dealt floor area at 105 square meters while putting the average age of residential units at 12 years.
SCI also disclosed figures for monthly home rents plus 3% collateral legally paid to rent one square meter of residential floor area.
It reported that the average rent prices increased by 43.8% during the current year’s Q2 compared with the Q2 of last year and 12.7% compared with the first quarter of the current year.
The minimum price of each square meter of residential floor area rented in the Iranian cities stood at 2,796 rials (1 cent) with the maximum registered at 4.9 million rials ($19) that brought the average to 194,176 rials (76 cents) per month.
Compared with the second quarter of last year, the current year’s Q2 rent deals increased by 61.1%; they increased by 266.7% when compared with the preceding quarter.
SCI reported the average area of total rent deals at 100 square meters and put the average age of rental homes at 14 years.
All figures reported by SCI employ data extracted from the state-run Tenement Management Information System operated by the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
All certified real-estate agencies are legally required to register their deals in the system, which has been established with the aim of making home purchase and renting deals more transparent.
As sudden changes in the number of deals in major cities lead to a significant change in prices across a province or the whole country, the report uses a balanced weighted average for its reports to identify real price changes by eliminating the effect of home deals.
The related weights used were based on occupied residential units surveyed during a general census conducted in the fiscal 2015-16.
Ministry Puts Average Prices at $584 per sqm
The SCI report was released shortly after Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh, the head of Housing Department of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, said the average price of each square meter of a residential property in Iran stood at 152 million rials ($584) in the month ending Nov. 20.
“In summer, the department decided to stop publishing statistics regarding the real-estate market in Tehran because it believes that having the average home price in Tehran as a reference would affect prices in other provinces whereas prices in cities of a province should be compared to the capital city of that province [and not Tehran],” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
“At present, statistics on home deals of all provincial capital cities have been prepared; the average price of each square meter of a residential property in 25 provincial capital cities is below 100 million rials ($384). The median home price of nine provincial capital cities is less than 50 million rials ($192) and only in Tehran and Ahvaz, the average price of each square meter of home exceeds 200 million rials ($769). Tehran home prices stood at 278 million rials ($1,069) and those of Ahvaz reached 235 million rials ($903) per square meter during the month ending Nov. 20.”
Mahmoudzadeh noted that high demand has driven up home prices in the southern city of Ahvaz, which has become popular with foreign buyers in recent months, although it was not an expensive city in the past.
The most expensive city in Iran is Tehran and the cheapest is Yasuj with 32 million rials ($123) per square meter last month.
He put the median home price per square meter in Shiraz at 114 million rials ($438); Isfahan at 111 million rials ($426); Ilam at 40 million rials ($153); Birjand at 42 million rials ($161); Bojnurd at 45 million rials ($173); Kermanshah at 46 million rials ($177); and Arak and Zanjan at above 100 million rials ($384).
On home prices in Tehran in dollar term, the official said, “The highest average home price in dollar term in Tehran over the past 15 years was registered in the year ending March 2009 at $2,244 per square meter. This comes as the average price of each square meter of a residential property in Tehran stood at $1,051 at the rate of 250,000 rials per US dollar last month, i.e., half its price in the year ending March 2009.”
Noting that housing expenses accounted for 36% of households’ budget in the year ending March 2020, Mahmoudzadeh said, “Home prices increased from 12 million rials [$46] in the year ending March 2010 to 278 million rials last month.”
