Continued Crackdown on Real Estate Agents to Control Housing Prices; 1200 Real Estate Units Sealed in Mashhad

The Director of Inspection and Supervision of Professions in Mashhad announced the sealing of 1,200 real estate consultancy units in the city from the beginning of this year until today, Tuesday, January 5. Mohsen Sayadi stated that the reason for these seals was professional violations. According to him, violations included lack of a business license, charging excess fees, failure to issue tracking codes, not displaying price lists, not issuing formal contracts with tracking codes, and not including fees in rental agreements and sales. The crackdown on real estate consultants is part of the actions taken by the Government Trading Regulation Organization and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development under the pretext of controlling housing prices. In this regard, the Director General of Roads and Urban Development in Isfahan province mentioned on October 21 that 11,000 active real estate consultancy units had been identified in the province, and so far, 1,125 violating real estate consultants have been sealed in Isfahan. An official from the Ministry of Roads also stated on the first day of September that in the past month, 32,000 real estate consultants across the country were inspected, resulting in 2,986 violating units being sealed in one month. The average housing price in Tehran has increased several times in recent years, rising from 28 million tomans per square meter in winter 1399 to over 80 million tomans in autumn 1402. Government officials have identified real estate consultants as the main factor behind this price surge. Meanwhile, Iran's economy has faced over 40% inflation, the return of sanctions, and intensified structural corruption in recent years, disrupting the economic and social order in the country. The housing price has increased by 54% since last year and decreased by 2% from the previous month; experts say this is 'temporary.' Real estate consultants have stated they have been forced to become internet taxi drivers. A newspaper claimed that the government's inaccurate statistics are the cause of a 'tsunami' in the housing market. A comparison of housing prices in Iran and Turkey shows that houses in Istanbul are cheaper than in Tehran. The consequences of housing inflation include a decrease in 'marriage' and a decline in birth rates.