TEHRAN- Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami said that the government will interfere in the issue of housing rental.

Making the remarks on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting, the minister also said that ceilings have been set for the rent prices which all people are obliged to comply with them, IRIB reported.

As previously announced by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), rent price in Tehran city has increased 27 percent in the fourth Iranian calendar month Tir (June 21-July 21) from its previous month.

The CBI report also showed that the rent price in the capital city has experienced a 31-percent rise in the fourth month of this year compared to the same month in the past year.

The housing market is experiencing inflation and rise in prices, both in terms of rentals and sales, but the rise in prices is not going to be like the last year's sudden surge, Hesam Oqbaei, the deputy head of Tehran Real Estate Association, said on May 2.

“Last year, when house prices experienced a 100-percent growth, rent prices rose by as much as 30 percent. Of course, this year we anticipate that rent growth will not reach inflation and will stay below the inflation rate,” the official added.

According to Oqbaei, 37 percent of the country's urban population are tenants, who are from the low and middle classes of the society and their salary increase has been up to 22 percent, so if the rent prices were supposed to grow along with the house prices people won’t be able to afford it.

Oqbaei underlined the lack of balance in supply and demand as the main reason for the upward trend in housing prices and said since there are not enough bank facilities available to homebuyers, more people will stay as tenants and the demand for house rents increases, so consequently rent prices will also rise in areas where there is an imbalance between supply and demand.

MA/MA