Tehran Mayor Talks About 350,000 Vacant Homes in Tehran; Housing Becomes an 'Unattainable Dream'

Alireza Zakani, the Mayor of Tehran, announced the existence of 350,000 vacant homes in the city, stating that this number is "mainly related to the upper city and is being kept for speculation purposes." The Mehr news agency also reported a significant rise in housing and rental prices around Tehran, noting that the average price per square meter has exceeded 20 million tomans. Mohammad Mokhber, in response to a question about the increase in rental prices during a government meeting, emphasized that "two measures have been taken." He described these measures as: "The first action is that we have had approvals in the government, and the second is a bill currently under review in the parliament." Contrary to the claims of officials, the housing market continues on its path, and the rising prices and inflation in this sector are among the reasons, according to experts, that the Statistical Center and the Central Bank have refrained from publishing statistics in this area for the past four months. Meanwhile, on May 15 of this year, the Hamshahri newspaper quoted the first vice president of the Tehran Real Estate Agents Union as saying: "Websites are creating prices in an unreal and virtual space." According to Davood Beigi Nejad, the cause of the price increase is "the lack of control and oversight over the housing market." One of the government's solutions to control the housing market was to provide housing construction loans, and in this regard, the Money and Credit Council set the ceiling for housing loans at 550 million tomans uniformly across all cities on May 7. However, calculations show that the monthly installments for applicants start at 9.5 million tomans and increase to over 16.6 million tomans by the 12th month of the twentieth year, meaning that the applicant must ultimately repay more than 3 billion tomans for a 550 million toman loan. Additionally, according to the government's decision, part of the agricultural lands will be used in the "National Housing Production Leap" plan. However, a recent report from the General Inspection Organization regarding the implementation of the housing production leap law has warned the government about the destruction of agricultural lands. Despite all this, the government has yet to fulfill its promises, and Asghar Salimi, a representative from Semirom in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated: "The government of Ebrahim Raisi has promised to build one million houses per year, but in my county, not even one house has been built." A housing activist in Tehran stated that a 40% inflation rate makes living in the capital impossible. When statistics speak; the heavy shadow of hunger in Iran. The housing recession in Iran has lasted for 8 years; media reports indicate an increase in citizens' preference for "middle-aged houses." Criticism of the government has increased due to the lack of published statistics; controlling inflation through "statistical imprisonment."