Page 66 - IRANRptOct22

Ending the subsidy would save the current Raisi administration around $9bn annually state media reported.
There is, meanwhile, confusion caused by contradictory statements from officials over whether the government has already cut the subsidy. Amid that confusion, prices have continued to ascend at a rapid rate.
US sanctions on Iran supposedly exclude food and medicine. But in reality, the restrictions have made it difficult for Tehran to purchase some drugs, according to Human Rights Watch.
9.1.9 Property & construction sector news
Western expats sell homes and move out of Turkish resorts for quieter life as Iranians, Russians move in
Iran identifies 1.6mn vacant homes, prepares to force properties on to market
Western expats and ‘long-stay’ tourists residing in Turkish seaside resorts are moving on to other locations given influxes of Iranian and Russian migrants fleeing unfavourable circumstances back home, according to Turkish media reports.
“People from Russia, Iran and also countries such as Iraq have started coming here quite recently. Alanya is seeing intensive migration and it continues to grow day by day,” Keriim Balytkay, president of Alanya Real Estate Brokers Association (ALEKOD) in Alanya, a beach resort city in Turkey’s southern Antalya Province, told local press.
He added: “As a result, Europeans want to leave the city as it gets too crowded. They are concerned about migration and the density [of inhabitation] that Alanya is getting. The Europeans are selling their apartments in Alanya because they prefer quiet places, they want to get away from the crowded environment.
“The main reason why they want to leave is not because of cultural conflict, it’s because of traffic and the density of people.”
Local councillor in Alanya, Fikret Arik, spoke of 20 Finns who sold their houses and moved from the city. "Many home sales are to those who come from the Middle East, and the formation of a new group of Alanya residents is pushing Europeans out of our city," he added.
Iranians in recent years have become the biggest foreign buyers of homes on the Turkish market, followed by Russians and Iraqis. Middle-class Iranian, Russian and other expat buyers are seen as often making property investments to avoid the consequences of further depreciation in their country’s national currency.
Towards 1.6mn suspected empty homes have been identified across Iran, Tasnim News Agency on April 27 reported Parvaneh Aslani, director general of the housing economics office of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, as saying.
Officials confronted by Iranians who cannot get a foot on the property ladder due to soaring house prices and the severely weakened Iranian rial (IRR) are looking to force some of these homes on to the market. Introduced regulations mean homeowners who refuse to rent a vacant home for at least a one-year period must pay half an annual rent in the form of a tax fine. Many Iranians hold on to empty property as an investment, believing that they stand to profit more from potential sales during better economic times.
Aslani reportedly said that she expected the country’s tax office, armed with the list compiled from its search for empty properties, would now start implementing fines against owners.
A previous vice president of the National Tax Administration, Ghassem Panahi, once announced that a long-awaited tax on vacant homes in Tehran and other major cities would be brought in by March 21, 2017, but that deadline was
66 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com