Iran: Provincial Home Sales Buck the Trend

EghtesadOnline: Barring Tehran, the housing sales news was encouraging across all Iranian provinces in the last fiscal year (March 2018-19).

News ID: ۷۴۷۹۲۳

20 July 2019

According to a report by the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad citing the Statistical Center of Iran’s data, the number of last year’s home sales in 31 Iranian provinces, except Tehran, saw a 15% year-on-year increase whereas home prices rose by 26.5%.

Last year, the number of home sales in all Iranian provinces, including Tehran, rose by 4% (from 435,000 deals to 452,000) and prices increased by 50% YOY, (from 16 million rials or $130 per square meter to 24 million rials or $195 on average).

Tehran Province, wherein lies the capital city, saw a decline of 30% in the number of home deals and a rise of 70% in home prices last year. The average price of each square meter of residential floor area in Tehran averaged at 110 million rials ($894), according to Financial Tribune.

The residential property market of Tehran Province began to show signs of cooling last summer after strong increases in the previous fiscal year (2017-18).

On the contrary, the trend of increasing deals emerged in 30 Iranian provinces and continued in 15 provinces in Q3 and seven provinces in Q4. In other words, the housing markets of only seven provinces, namely Hormozgan, Mazandaran, Kurdestan, Zanjan, Khuzestan, North Khorasan and Alborz, started the current year on a booming note.

The number of property deals in all Iranian provinces, except Tehran, in Q1 of last year rose by 35% YOY, 27% in Q2 and 2% in Q3. This is while last year’s Q4 saw the number of deals decline by 6% year-on-year.

On the other hand, except in Q1, the number of home deals in Tehran declined last year. The number of home sales during the second quarter dropped by 16.6%, Q3 deals were down 40% and in Q4 fell by 35% YOY.

Last year’s Q1 home prices of all Iranian provinces, except Tehran, increased by 19%, Q2 and Q3 prices increased by 25% and 32% respectively, and then increased by 30% in the fourth quarter YOY.

Home price growth during Q4 was the highest in three provinces, as it increased by 80% in Tehran, 41.6% in Fars and 41.1% in Hormozgan. The lowest rates of home price growth were registered for Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province (19%), Sistan-Baluchestan (20.3%) and North Khorasan (20.3%).

Tehran accounts for two-thirds to half of all property deals nationwide.