A total of 2,555 homes were sold in the capital during the ninth month of the current fiscal year (Nov. 21-Dec. 20), registering a 42.8% and 73.2% decline compared with the preceding month and the same month of last year respectively.
Data published by the Central Bank of Iran on its website also indicate that the average price of each square meter of a residential property in Tehran stood at 269.05 million rials ($1,034) during the month under review, showing an increase of 98.9% over last year’s same month as average prices reached 135.25 million rials ($520).
Home prices in the capital city decreased by 1.1% compared to 271.93 million rials ($1,045) in the eighth month of the current year.
Property Deals in Detail
The CBI data also show that during the month ending Dec. 20, newly-built residential properties up to five years old constituted the highest proportion of deals at 39.1% (or 1,000 deals), down by 3.4 percentage points compared with the same month of last year.
That lost share was added to homes that were six to 10 years old and those above 20 years. Homes with a lifespan of six to 10 years and those above 20 years accounted for 20.7% and 12.6% of total deals compared with the same month of last year’s 19.3% and 9.7%, respectively.
The share of deals involving homes that were 11 to 15 years and 16 to 20 years old decreased from 12.8% and 15.7% of the total deals of last year’s same month to 12.3% and 15.2% this year, respectively.
The distribution of dealt properties shows that among Tehran’s 22 districts, District 5 grabbed the highest share of total deals at 12.7%. It was followed by districts four and 10 with a combined share of 7.9%.
All-in-all, 10 districts (five, four, 10, two, one, 15, 14, seven, 11, eight) grabbed the lion's share of the deals at 69.4% with the remaining 12 districts holding a 30.6% share.
Among Tehran's 22 districts, District 1 registered the highest average home price of 571 million rials ($2,196) per square meter. District 18 offered the capital city's cheapest homes with an average per-square meter price of 108.1 million rials ($415). The aforesaid numbers show a respective increase of 84% and 66% YOY.
Residential units with an average price range of 140 million rials ($538) to 160 million rials ($615) per square meter were the most popular in Tehran during the Iranian month under review, as they grabbed a 7.9% share of all deals. They were followed by units priced at 180 million rials ($692) to 200 million rials ($769) per square meter with a share of 6.6% and homes priced at 120 million rials ($461) to 140 million rials ($538) per square meter with a share of 6.3%.
From the total number of deals, 59.7% belonged to homes cheaper than the average per-square meter price of the city (i.e., 269.05 million rials or $1,034).
Residential units with a floor area of 50-60 square meters registered the highest number of sales with a 15.6% share of total deals.
Units with an area of 60-70 square meters and 70-80 square meters came second and third with a share of 14.1% and 11.3%, respectively. All-in-all, residential properties with an area of less than 80 square meters had a 55% share of total deals.
CBI data further show that Tehran’s homes worth between six billion rials ($23,076) and 8.5 billion rials ($32,692) were the most popular with a 14.9% share of total deals. These were followed by homes with a price tag of between 8.5 billion rials ($32,692) and 11 billion rials ($42,307), and those priced at between 3.5 billion rials ($13,461) and six billion rials ($23,076) with a share of 9.5% and 8.4% of total deals, respectively.
Collectively, homes valued under 16 billion rials ($61,538) had a 50% share of total home deals in Tehran during the ninth month of the current year.
Nine-Month Perspective and Urban Tenancy
During the nine months of the current Iranian year that started on March 20, the number of home deals finalized in Tehran totaled 70,598, which shows a 42.9% rise year-on-year.
In the same period, the average price of each square meter of a home in the capital stood at 222.6 million rials ($856), signaling a YOY surge of 74.2% compared with the nine months of last year.
The central regulator also reports changes to tenancy prices in the capital city and across the urban areas.
According to CBI, the price of rented residential units in Tehran and across urban areas increased by 29.4% and 32.4% respectively during the ninth month of the current year compared with the similar month of last year.
Ministry Puts Average Iran Price at $584 per m²
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, says Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh, the head of Housing Department of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
“In summer, the department decided to stop publishing statistics regarding the real-estate market in Tehran because it believes having the average home price in Tehran as a reference would affect prices in other provinces whereas prices in the 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 Ahvaz at 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 but was not an expensive city in the past.
The most expensive city in Iran, in terms of home prices, 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 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 the price in the year ending March 2009.”
Noting that housing expenses accounted for 36% of household 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.”
