TEHRAN- Housing price in Tehran city has risen 93.7 percent in the last month of the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), as compared to the same month of its previous year, according to the latest report released by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).

The CBI’s report put the average price for one square meter of a residential unit at 302.74 million rials (about $7,208) in the capital city in the last month of the past year.

Two weeks ago, Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami announced that 510,000 residential units will be provided for the applicants under the framework of the National Housing Action Plan during the coming months.

Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister for Housing and Construction Affairs Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh has recently said that the construction costs for the National Housing Action Plan are set based on the current year’s construction material price list and haven’t changed.

Mahmoudzadeh made the remarks in response to some rumors about the rise in the prices of such housing units as a result of the increase in construction costs.

The National Housing Action Plan aims to construct 400,000 small and medium-size apartments (70-100 square meters in size) across the country and particularly in Tehran, where housing prices have risen most sharply.

Nearly half of the total number of the said houses will be constructed in Tehran’s suburban “new towns” such as Parand and Pardis, respectively located in the west and east of the city.

Last month, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati and the transport minister held a meeting to discuss ways of financing the mentioned plan in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21).

In the meeting, which was also attended by the managing directors of some of the country’s banks as well as the representatives of the Transport Ministry, Hemmati called on banks to participate in this plan and to provide housing facilities for improving the housing market.

The CBI governor emphasized his bank’s strong support for the implementation of the government’s housing-related plans and asked the bank directors to participate in such programs.

“It is essential that banks participate in housing-related programs as much as they can,” he stressed.

MA/MA