Mortgage interest rates have been lowered by one percentage point, Bank Maskan’s CEO announced. Hashem Botshekan added that mortgage rates for the housing saving account have been lowered from 14% to 13%, and Maskan housing bond rates from 18.5% to 17.5%. The decision comes after the Central Bank of Iran cut lending rates from 24% to 22% last month, Eghtesad News reported. Noting that new couples can now jointly apply for 160-million-rial ($53,000) mortgages, he said, “The loans’ interest rate is now 13% and its repayment period is about 12 years with monthly installments of about 19,000,000 rials ($629) for residents of Tehran and 14,000,000 rials ($463) for major cities and 9,700,000 rials ($321) for smaller towns. He added that increasing the mortgage ceiling would not fuel a rise in housing prices, for people’s own money–and not the central bank’s resources–was the only financial resource used for the provision of the fund.
