Domestic media, citing data from a service application, reported a 73% rise in tenant migration from Tehran due to rising living costs.
On Thursday, June 12, newspapers cited data from the service app Achareh, reporting that family relocations from various districts of Tehran to the suburbs of the capital have increased by 73%.
According to public relations data from Achareh—which offers moving services—the rate of relocation from Tehran to suburban areas, including Pardis, Bumehen, Pakdasht, and Baqershahr, increased by about 73% from 2023 to 2024.
An analysis of Achareh’s 2024 data shows that 11.5% of moves to Tehran’s outskirts originated from District 4, located in the eastern part of the capital and including neighborhoods such as Tehranpars, Hakimiyeh, Narmak, and Heravi.
Following District 4, Districts 5, 3, and 2 rank next, accounting for 5%, 4%, and 3.5% of all moves to the suburbs, respectively.
It is notable that these districts include relatively affluent neighborhoods such as Punak, Shahrak-e Gharb, Darrous, and Vanak, and now some of their residents have also been forced to leave the city.
Housing Poverty in Iran Is Twice the Global Average
Although these figures are not based on a comprehensive scientific study and are derived from a mobile application with an unknown user base, official data somewhat corroborate the trend.
According to data from the Research Center of Iran’s regime’s Majlis (parliament), housing poverty in Iran rose from 32% in 2011 to about 55% in 2021, while the global average for this indicator is around 20%.
One of the serious challenges facing Iran’s regime is the growing crisis of informal settlements on the outskirts, a phenomenon that could again trigger protests similar to those in Kuy-e Tollab in Mashhad and Eslamshahr near Tehran.
A New Pattern of Informal Settlement
The Social Studies Office of the regime’s Majlis Research Center published a report in November 2022 titled “Informal Settlement in Iran: Approaches, Policies, and Actions.”
According to the report, in 2021, at least 6.187 million people across the country were considered informal settlers or residents of unregistered housing areas.
As in many other parts of the world, informal settlement and migration to urban outskirts were common in Iran. However, the population of these areas was generally composed of migrants from rural areas and small towns.
During the second term of Hassan Rouhani’s presidency, between 2018 and 2021, an unprecedented shift occurred. Due to soaring housing inflation, statistics indicated a rise in migration from urban centers to the outskirts of cities.
Tehran Housing Prices Surge: Average Price Per Square Meter Reaches $1,100
Earlier, Ahmad Vahidi, the interior minister under Ebrahim Raisi’s government, had also confirmed the migration of urban residents to peripheral areas.
In March 2023, Beitollah Satariyan, a faculty member at the University of Tehran, stated that due to extreme pressure in the housing markets of major cities, many citizens can no longer afford to stay in their current residences and are forced to move to smaller spaces or peripheral areas.
He also warned that in some cases; this trend leads to a rise in residence within informal settlements.
