The latest statistics released by the Central Bank of Iran reflects a semblance of stability in the key housing market despite a drop in the total number of housing deals.
CBI, in its “Trends in Tehran Real Estate Deals” for the period between September 23- October 22, has advised potential homebuyers to go ahead and sign deals, saying the improving economic environment and stimulus plans for lifting the market had made it an apt time for purchase.
Data, derived from Tenement Management Information System, shows that 84,100 houses were sold in Tehran during the first seven months of the calendar year that started on March 21, marking an 18.5% drop compared with the same period last year.
Average Prices
The average price per square meter of a typical residential unit in Tehran reached 39.3 million rials ($1,350 at the market exchange rate) last month, growing at 0.5% compared with the previous month and 0.9% at an annualized rate.
A review of the average price of housing units across Tehran’s 22 municipal districts shows that homes located in the upscale district one, are the most expensive with an average price of 79 million rials ($2,670) per square meter. District 18, in southwest Tehran, has the cheapest homes at an average price of 20.8 million rials ($704) per square meter.
District two, enclosing northwest of the capital, had the highest price growth at 5.2%, while district 20, at the southern tip of Tehran, suffered a 5.6% decline in the average prices, the biggest drop among the capital’s districts.
The report also details the frequency of housing deals based on prices, with homes below the average price (39.3 million rials a meter) accounting for 61.1% of the total deals.
Number of Deals
The total number of recorded deals in Tehran during the said period stands at 11,500 or a 10.4% decline month-on-month and an 8.4% drop year-on-year.
Of the traded homes, 55.1% were built less than five years ago, marking a growth of 0.2% in the market for newly-built units.
District 5 in Tehran on the west side of the sprawling metropolis, accounts for the largest share of houses sold during the period: 13.2% of the total housing deals were recorded there.
Rents also increased 11% month-on-month and 12.4% at an annualized rate. The report claims that the government’s anti-inflationary measures have kept housing rents from “rising dramatically.”
Pundits and market observers have said for more than two years that rents have increased largely due the reluctance, refusal and inability of the people to buy their own homes. As such, they seek to rent waiting for the market to “stabilize and turn around” after the sanctions are lifted.
For almost four decades housing prices have been going through the roof with shocking disregard for the people’s purchasing power as avarice and lack of low-cost residential space takes its toll pushing more and more Tehran is to the outskirts on the western and eastern flanks of the capital now home to more than 12 million people.
