Housing prices increased sevenfold over seven years; ‘6.5 million people in Iran are renters’

A member of parliament’s urban development commission says housing prices have grown more than 700 percent over the past seven years.

Mojtaba Yousefi told ILNA news agency on Monday, Bahman 16, that 6.5 million people in Iran are tenants.

Based on Central Bank statistics, housing prices in Tehran over the past year have doubled compared to 1398 and tripled compared to 1397.

The report states that rental rates in the past year also increased slightly more than 30 percent compared to 1398.

Yousefi says one of the determining factors in rental prices is the property price and value.

According to him, the country’s annual housing construction needs are around one million units, from which number we are “far behind”.

This urban development commission member continued saying that given the people’s income in the current situation and the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, even if the ceiling for rent increases is set at 10 percent, people cannot afford it.

Hassan Rouhani’s government announced last year that the permitted ceiling for rent increases was 25 percent, but ILNA says rents have increased more than this amount.

Yousefi says the market does not accept imposed rates.

He also said that soon a tax on empty houses in the country will be implemented and claimed that with this type of laws, we are “removing the housing market from speculation”.

Source: Radio Farda