Iran Housing Uptrend Continues

According to a report published on the monetary regulator's website, the key sector registered a small growth rate of 0.1% this spring in what many believe could be its last such growth in the foreseeable future.

Even as prospects are not very bright, the tiny growth registered during the period is actually a vast improvement compared with the similar period of last year when the sector had contracted by 3.5% when it was still mired in its longest-running recession in recent memory, which lasted for more than five years.

But after the final contraction last spring, the sector registered consecutive growths of 3.1%, 1.4% and 2% in the next three quarters. Overall, the sector's growth was equal to 1.2% during the whole of the previous fiscal year that ended on March 20, 2018, according to Financial Tribune.

In its Sunday report concerning the housing and construction sector during this year's Q1, CBI wrote: "The value of private sector construction investments in urban areas increased by 18.9% year-on-year."

However, it added that after implementing price indices and balancing the said figure, the growth in the added value of private sector construction is estimated to register an annual decline of 2%. 

Ultimately, taking into account the figure mentioned above and calculating the added value of government construction, CBI says the final growth figure of the sector culminated at 0.1%.

This is while the housing sector is almost certainly heading for another period of stagnancy after barely recovering from a five-year recession some nine months ago. 

The housing market in Tehran, which usually accounts for almost half of all deals across Iran, has slumped in the past three months. 

Preliminary data for the sixth months of the current Iranian year (ending Sept. 22) indicate that home sales have registered an annual decline of 45%.