Iran press/Iran news: Interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli briefed MPs on Sunday about the "national housing plan". The interior minister said: "In the past one or two years, we have seen a sharp rise in both house prices, and the price of building materials, making new houses unaffordable for many people. The rise in house prices has created problems in this sector. But according to president Rouhani's national housing plan, old and decrepid housing must be replaced by well-built, modern and affordable homes, effectively rebuilding and regenerating old neighbourhoods in towns and cities."
Rahmani Fazli added: "Low-cost land and special low-interest loans have been provided by the government to renew and regenerate old housing in old city neighbourhoods.
Also the Roads and Urban Development minister, Mohammad Eslami briefed MPs on steps taken by his ministry to facilitate the building of new homes. He said: "One key factor is land, and the process of issuing permits to those who are active in housing development, and want to construct new homes has been speeded up, cutting out unnecessary bureaucracy.
Eslami added: "We are aiming to build 500000 new housing units each year, in various towns and cities, and as far as villages are concerned, we are aiming to build 200000 new homes per year in villages throughout the country."
Also the head of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnasser Hemmati addressed MPs on Sunday, to brief them about the steps taken by the Central Bank to lower house prices and encourage development of new homes.
Hemmati said: "The maximum mortgage given for development of new homes has increased by 60 percent, and both the government and parliament (Majlis) want to further increase home loans to further boost the housing sector. No doubt we shall witness important events in the current year, 2019, in the housing sector." 211/213
