Fewer Homeowners, More Renters

The Open Data Iran database is an innovation project aimed at collecting data related to Iran in one place and presenting it in easily accessible formats. Radio Farda, in collaboration with this entity, publishes a series of articles, the first of which is titled 'What Do Iranians Die From?'. Six other articles discuss the deep gender gap in student employment, the situation of farmers, the share of housing in the urban household expenditure basket in Iran, and the causes of mortality in Tehran and other provinces of Iran. The seventh article is as follows. The decisive role of housing in the welfare status of families has made awareness of the housing conditions of families particularly important. For this reason, the Statistical Center of Iran publishes annually in statistical surveys related to household income and expenditure in urban and rural areas the 'type of housing occupied by households' to show what percentage of Iranian families in urban and rural areas are owners, renters, have housing in exchange for service, or live in free housing. Here, we have examined statistics from 2004 to 2014 and, after reviewing the averages, we have focused on the increasing share of housing units that are provided free of charge to families. The share of the three lowest income deciles is more than 5 percent higher than the overall average, indicating the lesser ability of these deciles to secure independent rented or owned housing. The statistics provided by the Statistical Center of Iran, broken down by urban and rural areas (Charts 1 and 2), show that between 2004 and 2014, the percentage of families owning personal housing units in urban areas of Iran decreased from 69.9 percent to 65.7 percent of all families. This decrease in the percentage of homeowners has been accompanied by a 3.3 percent increase in the number of renting families, with the share of renters rising from 21 percent of the population in 2004 to 24.3 percent in 2014. In rural areas, we also observe the same trend of decreasing homeowners and increasing renters, although the changes are less pronounced than in urban areas. The percentage of homeowners decreased from 86.6 percent in 2004 to 85.5 percent in 2014, and the percentage of families living in rental units increased by only 0.4 percent. As shown in Charts 1 and 2, families' residences are not limited to owned and rented units. Statistics indicate that each year, approximately one in ten Iranian families lives in free housing or housing in exchange for service (more commonly referred to as organizational units). Housing in exchange for service is a residence provided to a household in return for the work of one or more family members. Free housing is a residence for which the household does not pay any fee and does not perform any work in exchange. It is noteworthy that a small fraction of families in Iran has always lived in organizational housing, and this small share has nearly halved in both urban and rural areas from 2004 to 2014. In contrast, the number of families living in free housing has increased during the same period, such that the share of free housing in urban and rural areas shows more than a 2 percent growth. This trend may indicate an increasing dependence of Iranian families on parents or institutions like the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation for housing. A brief overview of the distribution of free housing in 2014 across different income deciles can confirm this claim. In 2014, in urban areas, the average percentage of families living in free housing was less than 9 percent, while in the three lowest income deciles, an average of 14 percent of families resided in such units. In rural areas, the figures are almost identical to those in urban areas, and the weaker deciles of society are increasingly reliant on others for their housing needs. It is essential to note that in the above charts, the overall average, which has been examined in the Statistical Center's tables regarding the distribution across deciles and expenditure groups, has been used. Furthermore, the reason for referencing deciles only for 2014 is that complete data for the deciles was only available for that year. Expenditure groups cannot adequately explain the deciles and change over different years, which is why expenditure groups have not been used for other years. In summary, the statistics indicate that over the ten-year period from 2004 to 2014, the percentage of homeowners has decreased in both urban and rural areas of Iran, while the number of renters has increased, with this trend being more pronounced in urban areas. Additionally, in both regions, the small share of housing units in exchange for service has decreased, while the share of free housing has increased. This trend indicates an increasing dependence of Iranian families on other institutions like relatives and the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation for housing, and the distribution of these free units among income deciles may support this claim.