Experts estimate it takes about 18-20 months to build a residential unit in Iran while the 2012 Survey of Construction by the Census Bureau indicated that on average, it takes about seven months from obtaining a building permit to completing a new single-family home globally.
In recent years, as the architecture and structure of buildings gained priority, the speed and costs of construction have become pressing issues for builders since the country has been struggling with a housing crisis with throngs of new young families entering a heavily inflated market that is incapable of building affordable housing fast enough.
A notorious example of slow housing construction is the so-called Mehr Housing Scheme. Designed in 2007 by the previous administration, the scheme was a home construction program under which the government offered developers free land in return for the construction of cheap residential units for first-time home buyers who receive 99-year mortgages.
In 2013, the new government announced it was abolishing the program, and that the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development would complete the unfinished projects, but would start no new construction. Eight years on, officials say up to 90 percent of all the units have been built.
"On average, Iran has built one unit every three days over the past years," Eghtesad News quoted Iraj Rahbar, the head of the Society of Mass Housing Builders of Tehran as saying.
A survey published by the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development last year indicated that 2.4 million families do not own a house.
