Iranian regime media have reported on the chaotic state of the housing market, stating that even with the equivalent of 500 years of current salaries, it is still impossible to purchase a 75-square-meter apartment.
The financial news website ‘Eghtesad Online’ highlighted this issue in a recent report, noting, “The waiting period for owning a house has reached over 100 years, and no middle or lower-income consumer can realistically afford to buy housing.”
The report emphasizes that the cost of housing maintenance in Iran has also seen significant growth, leaving homeowners struggling to cover their expenses. Eghtesad Online further noted that the monthly installment for a 900 million toman loan amounts to 35 million tomans, a figure unaffordable for most people.
Simultaneously, the ‘Mizan’ news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, published a report contradicting claims about government intervention in the housing market. It stated that despite the change in leadership following the election of Ebrahim Raisi, the housing market remains stagnant.
According to the report, housing prices have surged twentyfold since 2018, with the cost per square meter rising from 4 million tomans to 86 million tomans. Mizan emphasized that without substantial income increases, no amount of housing assistance will resolve the crisis.
The drastic rise in housing prices has led to a significant increase in rents, now the biggest challenge for tenants. Official statistics indicate that the average rent in urban areas of Iran has risen by 49% over the past five years, with the sharpest increases occurring in the last three years.
In a report on Thursday, July 18, the state-run newspaper Etelaat discussed the issue, revealing that over 7 million tenant households across the country have faced steep rent hikes in recent years. This report highlighted that annual inflation forces tenants to move to cheaper areas or to the outskirts of cities.
Reports indicate that in most populated cities, the annual growth rate of rents is no less than 35%, reaching 50% in high-demand areas of major cities. The state-run newspaper Donya-e Eghtesad also reported that housing poverty, or the deprivation of households from access to housing, has been rising steadily over the past two decades. The report stressed that in urban areas, more than half of the households in each income decile lack access to affordable housing.
The decline in purchasing power is the primary reason applicants cannot acquire housing. In August of last year, the regime’s Parliament Research Center stated that until the early 2000s, the lowest three income deciles were practically deprived of the right to access suitable housing due to their inability to pay bank installments. Currently, these three deciles are completely unable to secure housing, with the fourth, fifth, and even part of the sixth decile also relatively unable to obtain necessary housing.
Former regime President Ebrahim Raisi had promised to build one million housing units per year during his election campaign. However, more than three years passed, there has been little progress in this regard.
