In the month ending March 19, a total of 10,214 home deals were finalized.
The number of home sales in the capital city plunged by 63.7% compared with last year's similar month, the Central Bank of Iran reported.
A total of 3,423 home deals were concluded in the month ending April 20, 2019.
The average price of each square meter of a residential unit in Tehran stood at 152.95 million rials ($944) during the month under review, indicating a 2.1% decrease compared with the preceding month. Compared with the same month of last year, average prices surged by 35.7%.
Newly-built residential units—those up to five years old—grabbed the highest proportion of the total number of deals with 41.5%, more than 1.5 percentage points compared with the same month of last year.
The share of homes six to 10 years old increased by 0.5% and those above 20 years rose by 1.9% year-on-year. Homes that were six to 10 years old and those between 16 and 20 years accounted for 18.4% and 15.5% of total deals respectively.
The share of deals for homes with a lifespan of 11-15 years decreased from 13% of the total deals in the last year’s same month to 10.9% this year. Homes above 20 years old posted a share of 13.6% of total deals, compared with 11.7% of the same month of last year.
The distribution of the dealt properties shows that among Tehran's 22 districts, District 5 grabbed the highest share of total deals at 15.5%. It was followed by districts 2 and 4 with a respective share of 8.5% and 8.2%.
All-in-all, 10 districts (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 10 and 15) grabbed the lion's share of the deals at 72.4% with the remaining 12 districts holding a 27.6% share.
Average prices decreased 2.1% compared with the preceding month, but increased by 35.7% compared with the same month of last year
Among Tehran's 22 districts, District 1 registered the highest average home price of 313.2 million rials ($1,933) per square meter. District 18 offered the capital city's cheapest homes with an average per-square meter price of 74.1 million rials ($457). These numbers show a respective increase of 29% and 51.8% YOY.
Residential units, with an average price range of 90 million rials ($555) to 105 million rials ($648) per square meter, were the highest in demand, as they grabbed a 9.7% share of all deals. They were followed by units priced at 75 million rials ($462) to 90 million rials per square meter with a share of 8.3%.
From the total number of deals, 53.8% belonged to homes cheaper than the average per-square meter price of the city (i.e. 152.95 million rials or $944).
Residential units with a floor area of 60-70 square meters registered the highest number of deals with a 12.6% share of total deals.
Units with an area of 50-60 square meters and 70-80 square meters came next with a respective share of 12.5% and 11.8%, respectively. All-in-all, units with an area of less than 90 square meters had a 57.9% share of total deals.
CBI data further show that Tehran’s homes worth between 4.5 billion rials ($27,777) and 6 billion rials ($37,037) were highest in demand with a 10.3% share of total deals.
Homes with price tags of between 6 billion rials and 7.5 billion rials ($46,296) and those between 3 billion rials ($18,518) and 4.5 billion rials came next with a respective share of 9.4% and 9.2% of total deals. Collectively, homes valued under 12 billion rials ($74,074) had a 51.6% share of total home deals.
The central regulator also reported tenancy price changes in the capital city and across the urban areas.
According to the CBI report, the price of rented residential units in Tehran and across all urban areas increased by 28.7% and 31% respectively during the first month of the current year compared with the similar month of last year.
Mandatory Extension of Rental Agreements on the Table
The Housing Department of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has put together a proposal on mandatory extension of lease agreements for six months due to coronavirus crisis.
“Presently, circumstances are not suitable for tenants to relocate to a new place. On top of that, people are facing economic hardship and health concerns due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, particularly in big cities," Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh, an official with the ministry, was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
The ministry has put forth a proposal on requiring landlords to extend lease agreements for six months, which has been sent to the Cabinet for approval, he added.
PMI Hits New Low
Amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Purchasing Manager's Index for Iran's housing sector fell to the lowest level in the month ending March 19 since the index was first calculated for the sector for the Iranian month beginning Oct. 22, 2019, with a reading of 44.30.
Iran Chamber of Cooperatives’ latest report on the PMI for the real-estate and construction sectors–under the Farsi acronym Shamekh–for the final month of the last Iranian year shows the overall index settled at 35 from 51.76 in the 11th month (Jan. 21-Feb. 19), indicating a 32.38% decline.
PMI is an indicator of the health of economic sectors. It provides information about current business conditions to decision-makers, analysts and purchasing managers.
Raw material inventory, employment conditions, new orders, supplier deliveries and export/production conditions were among the criteria quizzed, yielding a final score of between 1 and 100.
If a business scores 50, it means that no change has been perceived compared to the previous month, while scores higher or lower than 50 indicate that the business is booming or stagnating respectively.
The housing PMI is based on five major survey fields: new orders, raw material inventory, production, supplier deliveries and employment.
The survey includes 12 questions about business conditions and any changes, whether it be improving, no changes or deteriorating.
It is measured through a monthly survey sent to senior executives of 100 companies active in the real-estate sector. It is based on five major survey areas: new orders with a coefficient of 30%, raw material inventory (10%), production (25%), supplier deliveries (15%) and employment (20%).