The Research Center of the Iranian Regime’s Parliament (Majlis) announced in August 2023 that various government initiatives in the Islamic Republic to reduce housing prices have failed. The latest official report from the Iranian regime indicates that the surge in housing prices in Tehran continues, with the annual inflation rate for residential apartments in this city reaching 82.8% in January.
The Statistical Center of Iran, affiliated with the Organization of Planning and Budget, declared on February 12 that the monthly housing inflation rate in Tehran for January 2024 was 2.2%. The center mentioned that the average price of sold residential apartments in the capital of Iran has reached 806.1 million rials per square meter (approximately $1,450).
Previously, in October 2023, after months of discontinuing the publication of government statistics, the Statistical Center of Iran announced that in September 2023, compared to the same month in 2022, housing prices had experienced a 75% surge.
In August 2023, the Majlis (Parliament) Research Center also reported an increase in various homelessness methods in Iran, stating that this is an “indicator of the severe failures of the country’s housing system.”
The research center wrote that in past decades, the initiatives of various governments “have been entirely detrimental to low-income and vulnerable groups lacking housing assets.”
The cessation of housing statistics publication by the Statistical Center and the Central Bank started in winter 2023 (from January to March 2023). Meanwhile, the new report from the Statistical Center shows that in winter 2023, the housing price growth suddenly intensified, reaching 120% inflation even in May 2023. In August 2023, housing inflation was also above 84%.
The Iranian governments have consistently halted the publication of the economic section in a highly critical situation, including the monthly statistics of the Central Bank regarding the state of government general budgets, which have been discontinued since autumn 2018.
One of the significant reasons for the notable increase in housing prices in Iran is related to the halving of the rial’s value over the past year. Additionally, the higher inflation in housing compared to the growth rate of the dollar in spring 2023 also indicates a severe recession in new construction projects in the country.
During the electoral campaign and the initial months of the presidency, Ebrahim Raisi promised to build one million housing units annually. This claim was met with widespread skepticism from experts at the time.
In another report, the Statistical Center states that in spring 2023, fewer than 30,000 building construction permits were issued by the country’s municipalities, showing a 27% decrease compared to winter 2022.
In Tehran, less than 10,000 housing construction permits were issued in spring 2023, which is 28% less than the first three months of 2023.
