Central Bank of Iran’s Report for 8 Months: Housing Loans Hit $3 Billion

EghtesadOnline: According to a new report by the Central Bank of Iran, 724,255 loans worth 390.94 trillion rials ($3 billion) were given out to different housing subsectors, including for home purchase, construction and repair, during the eight months to Nov. 21.

News ID: ۷۸۵۲۰۱

01 January 2020

Iranian banks and financial institutions gave out a total of 6,288,511 loans, of which 11.5% were granted to the housing sector.

Home loans worth 134.36 trillion rials ($1.03 billion) accounted for 34.4% of the total number of housing loans granted to applicants during the eight months, according to Financial Tribune.

Construction loans worth 60.27 trillion rials ($463.61 million) made up 15.4% of the housing loans, Hibna reported.

They were followed by repair loans worth 79.5 trillion rials ($611.53 million), constituting 20.3% of all housing loans.

Bank Maskan is the agent bank of the housing sector in Iran, which doles out a majority of home loans in the country.

Larger Loans for Modern Home Construction

Loans worth 1,700 million rials ($13,000) will be granted to home builders who choose to use non-traditional construction methods based on new technologies in the current fiscal year (March 2019-20). That’s a 54% growth in value compared with the loans offered to builders last year, a recent CBI statement reads.

Almost all residential units in Iran are built using conventional site-built construction methods. The average lifespan of homes in Iran hardly exceeds 25-30 years while, according to Fardin Yazdani, a housing expert and the official in charge of the Roads Ministry’s Comprehensive Housing Plan, industrialized homes can last up to 100 years.

Prefab technologies can be used to build homes quickly and cost-effectively, especially as traditional construction costs continue to rise, the Persian-language daily Shahrvand quoted the official as saying.

Noting that modular homes offer many advantages over site-built homes, Yazdani said the use of prefabricated components in home building, those manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled, will improve the quality of buildings and help control costs.

According to Iraj Rahbar, vice president of the Association of Builders, homes built in Iran not only have a very short lifespan, but their building materials also have adverse environmental impacts.

“A modular home might take a few days to complete whereas the time needed to build a residential unit through employing traditional methods might take up to two years,” he said.

“For example, one of the modern methods is tunnel construction that allows the contractor to cast walls and slabs in one operation in a daily cycle.”

Estimates by the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development show traditional approaches to real-estate development incur losses worth 40,000 billion rials ($307 million) annually, because they unnecessarily waste energy.

“Iran Build & Property Show 2020" Scheduled for Feb. 2

The First International Construction Exhibition, also known as "Iran Build & Property Show 2020", is scheduled to open at Tehran’s International Fairground on Feb. 2.

Industry players will showcase their latest products and services related to construction in the categories of mass building, road development, industrialization, machinery and new technologies at the upcoming event.

The exhibition is aimed at attracting investment, highlighting the role of housing in economic development, introducing capabilities of mass builders, providing the platform for knowledge-based firms, introducing new means and tools, and creating jobs, www.ibuildshow.ir (the official website of the event) reported.

Organized by Banian Omid Company, the four-day expo will conclude on Feb. 5.