Iran: Nationwide Home Sales Grow Unlike in Tehran

According to a report by the Persian daily Donya-e Eqtesad, home sales across all Iranian cities, except for the capital city, saw a 52% rise in Q1 (March 21-June 21) and a 44% growth in Q2 (June 22-Sept. 23) compared with their corresponding quarters of the last year.

Home sales in Tehran were down over 40% in the first two months of Q3 (Mehr and Aban) over same months of the last year but the overall home sales in other Iranian cities increased by 39% in Mehr (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) and 3% in Aban YOY.  

In the Iranian month Aban, about 20,000 home sales were registered in the Roads and Urban Development Ministry’s Tenement Management Information System, of which about 6,850 contracts were signed in the city of Tehran and about 7,500 were made in other provincial capitals. The remaining contracts were drawn up in cities with smaller population than provincial capital cities, according to Financial Tribune.

Home sales in Tehran declined by 26.7% in Aban compared with the preceding month, they were down 30% in provincial capitals and 24% in small and medium-size cities month-on-month.

Experts blame the drop on spiraling inflation and weakening affordability across the nation’s local housing markets.

According to the Statistical center of Iran, the Consumer Price Index of 'housing' group (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 133.5 in Aban, indicating a 1.5% rise compared with the previous month.

The 'housing' index registered a year-on-year increase of 22.8% compared with the similar month of last year.

The CPI of 'housing' group in the 12-month period ending November 21 increased by 13.5% compared with last year’s corresponding period, the SCI reported.

The average price of each square meter of a residential unit in provincial capital cities except for Tehran, as per the figures by the Roads and Urban Development Ministry’s Housing Economics Office, was around 27.5 million rials ($239) in Aban, up 4% compared with the preceding month. Home prices in the capital grew by 6.6% to stand at about 91.8 million rials ($798) compared with about 86.1 million rials ($748) in the seventh month of the current year.

The highest year-on-year inflation in the country’s housing market was registered for Tehran with 91.5%, followed by Qom 84%, Qazvin 45%, Ardebil 43%, Tabriz 38% and Isfahan 24%. Home prices increased by more than 40% in Mashhad, Ahvaz and Shiraz and by more than 30% in Karaj, Ilam, Bushehr and Arak YOY.