Page 43 - IRANRptMar19

9.1.7 Property sector news
The number of Tehran residential apartment transactions during the first seven months of the current Persian year (period ended October 22) amounted to 84,300, marking a fall of 14.9% y/y, latest official figures show. The number in the seventh month of the year was 9,400 residential units, down 32.3% y/y, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) added. The average sale price per square metre amounted to IRR86.1mn ($614mn) in the month, up 83.5% y/y.
Many of those Iranians who can afford to do so have turned to property assets to shelter from the collapse in the value of the rial amid the renewal of heavy US sanctions targeted at Iran. There has even been a surge of Iranians looking to pick up apartments and villas in Turkey.
During the seven-month period, the average price of one square metre of property sold by real estate agents in Tehran was IRR70.1mn, 55.4% higher year on year.
Residential units in the price range of IRR60-70mn per square metre accounted for the largest share of transactions, at 9.7%.
Second and third largest shares were taken by the IRR50mn-60mn and IRR40mn-50mn per metre price ranges, which had figures of 9.4% and 9.1%, respectively.
Flats sized at 50 to 60 square metres took the largest share of market transactions at 14.6% in the seventh month. Units with a size of 60 to 70 sqm and 70 to 80 sqm, placed second and third with shares of 14.5% and 11.5%, respectively. In total, residential units with a floor area of less than 80 sqm accounted for 53.2% of the total transactions in the month.
Residential units of up to 5 years-old were the subject of 44.5% of transactions in the seventh month, representing the largest traded segment.
9.1.8 Tourism sector news
Big numbers of bargain-hunting Azerbaijanis attracted by the collapse of the Iranian rial (IRR) appear to have been a major factor in driving up Iran’s foreign arrivals by 56% y/y in the first 10 months of the 2018/2019 Persian calendar year (March 21-January 20).
Iran’s definition of a tourist is "a foreigner who visits the country for a brief period", thus the figure includes those hopping over the border from neighbours including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Turkey to take advantage of the severe devaluation of the rial caused by US sanctions.
The data was announced by Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation (ICHHTO) official Leila Azhdari.
The largest contributor to foreign arrivals in Iran was Iraq with 2.2mn people. It was followed by Azerbaijan from where 1.3mn visitors hailed. The figures also recorded 700,000 arrivals from Afghanistan.
Azhdari noted that the number of European visitors declined year on year but declined to give a figure on the decrease.
She added that "1,980 US citizens entered the country during the period". Most likely many were visiting Iranian relatives. Very few Americans would have made the trip to Iran for other reasons in the assessed period given the hostility between Washington and Iran over the sanctions-led economic attack which the Trump administration has launched against Tehran.
Looking to reduce fears of travellers to Iran anxious that they might be persecuted at their next destination—particularly with regard to the US and Israel—Iran announced last year that it would no longer stamp the passports of
43 IRAN Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com