A total of 95,000 home deals were finalized in Iranian cities during the period under review.
Bank Maskan, the state agent bank of the housing sector, granted 34,298 home loans to applicants either in the form of bonds or Housing Saving Account mortgage loan to first-time buyers.
Given the average price of homes and home loans in the country, Hibna reports that Bank Maskan financing covers 20 square meters of total floor area of a residential unit.
Bank Maskan paid 993,000 different types of loans (construction, home loans and repair loans) worth 107.11 trillion rials ($434 million) during the period under review, registering a 50% increase compared with the similar period of last year.
The bank registered a sixfold increase (510%) in terms of the number of loans granted during the four-month period.
Despite economic downturn in recent months due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the number of people who took out loans from Bank Maskan grew by six times compared with last year’s same period.
Construction loans paid by the bank during four months to July 21 jumped by 47% in number and 258% in value year-on-year. The three-digit surge in the value of loans is thanks to the rise of the loan ceiling for construction.
The loan ceiling for the construction of new buildings in urban slum areas has increased to 3.5 billion rials ($14,187), according to Managing Director of Urban Regeneration Corporate Holding Company and Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehdi Obouri.
Licensed real-estate developers, who intend to rebuild residential buildings in Tehran’s slum areas, will be granted 2.5 billion rials ($10,133) in loans; they can also take out housing bonds worth 1 billion rials ($4,053) from Bank Maskan.
“A maximum of 2.3 billion rials [$9,323] of construction loans will be granted to professional real-estate developers planning to build new buildings in the slum areas of other large cities and provincial capitals [with a population of above 200,000] and 1.4 billion rials [$5,674] to those in cities with fewer than 200,000 residents,” he said.
“Self-builders planning to rebuild their properties in urban slum areas will be offered two loans worth 500 million rials [$2,026] at an interest rate of 9% and 18% and a 400-million-rial [$1,621] loan at an interest rate of 4%.”
At least 50% of the buildings in slum urban areas are dangerous, dilapidated, old structures and highly vulnerable to natural hazards, especially earthquakes. Passages in these areas are less than 6 meters wide and their buildings mainly have a land area smaller than 200 square meters.
“At present, nearly 20 million of Iranians live in slum areas, which cover more than 148,000 hectares of the country’s land and host 5.7 million residential units,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Generally, construction loans for licensed real-estate developers who tap into advanced technology stand at 2.5 billion rial ($10,133) in Tehran, 2.2 billion rials ($8,917) in other large cities and provincial capitals and 1.7 billion rials ($6,890) in cities with fewer than 200,000 residents.
Licensed real-estate developers can take out loans with an interest rate of 18% worth 2 billion rials ($8,107) in Tehran, 1.8 billion rials ($7,296) in other large cities and provincial capitals, and 1.4 billion rials ($5,674) in cities with fewer than 200,000 inhabitants.