A lawmaker has opposed the proposal to establish a real-estate bourse in Iran, saying it would further destabilize the already sluggish housing market.
Ebrahim Nekoo, who serves on the Economic Commission of the Parliament, told IRNA that a real-estate bourse would only encourage speculative activities by market activists and this would be detrimental to the market’s stability.
“Bringing the housing into the equity market at a time when turmoil is ruling the market would do nothing to help the real-estate market,” the lawmaker contended.
Some officials believe an efficient real-estate market could provide a boost to investment financing, as construction companies could more easily sell their projects to investors and buyers. The initiative to launch a real-estate bourse, mediated by the stock market, is hoped to prop up a market which is suffering from one of its longest streaks of depression in recent Iranian history.
Nekoo, however, noted that the real-estate bourse would give rise to secondary markets and inflated prices, among other things. He added that the bourse will ultimately decrease home ownership.
The lawmaker proposed that an ad hoc committee be established by the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development to study the housing market carefully and find ways to stimulate it. Otherwise, the MP warned, the recession in the housing market would become only more protracted.
