Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Jan. 25, 2019 – In parallel with unprecedented sky-high prices of food, fuel, transportation, and healthcare, Iran is witnessing the skyrocketing housing prices.
Official reports lay the blame on the government-run “home hoarding mafia.” Hoarding of houses and real estate is not a secret issue anymore; the official Bank-e Maskan (Home Bank), which should be an organization that facilitates the solving of housing issues for the Iranian people is now itself a giant home hoarder.
On June 16, the state-run Tasnim News Agency ran an article titled, “Hoarding of home by Bank-e Maskan: what is the reason behind the keeping of 500 residential home in Urmia?” Tasnim wrote, “It’s been more than 10 years since Bank-e Maskan has blatantly hoarded 500 residential homes in Urmia high-class district in Shora Street and around Urmia University. These residential homes not only have all the necessary needs of any home, but are even equipped with air conditioners, which are among least-priority necessities. But even in this situation, not a single person has been allowed to move in yet.”
While the Iranian people are struggling against poverty, the result of such circumstances made by the regime’s authorities and elements is that the home and rent prices have increased, which is comparable with coup de grass for the Iranian people patient.
The Iranian regime’s state-run television aired a report about the Iranian people’s anger about the high home rent prices. In this report, a citizen says, “The skyrocketing price of home rent is killing us. God knows that with these prices we can do nothing but cry. Home rent price has increased but our wages haven’t, have subsidies changed for the weak strata? No, but the prices have seen a three- to ten-fold increase.”
According to conservative reports, 7 million families are living in rental homes. This figure accounts for 37 percent of Iran’s population.
In thousands of cases, many Iranian families are living in their own semi-ruined homes. A citizen from Tehran told the state-run television channel, “We are a family of eight, living in this ruined house. I swear to God that in this 60-meter-square house, I live with my son, daughter and my nephews.
The increase of home rent and housing prices are also a source of dispute between the regime’s factions in the Parliament. In a public session of the regime’s Parliament, MP Hosseinali Shahriari warned about another uprising against the regime. “The price of people’s necessities have increased for 300 to 400 percent. The price of the housing has increased by 50-100 percent. Be afraid of the day where these people cannot bear this pressure and stand up against us,” Shahriari cautioned.
In November 2018, a state-run economic news website compared the home price in the least and the most expensive districts of Tehran, “This October, the home price in the first district of Tehran is over $1,900 per meter square, but the home price was $1,000 in the last October. This shows a 90-percent growth in the most expensive district of Tehran. In the 19th district, the least expensive area in Tehran, the prices increased from $270 to $400 in the same period, which shows 89-percent growth in home prices.”
The other side of the coin is the luxury life of regime officials and their houses and towers worth millions of dollars which they could afford by stealing from the Iranian people’s pockets through corruption and embezzlement.
While the luxury life of the regime’s elements is becoming more luxurious, the anger of the Iranian people is getting more and more.
However, the Iranian people no longer stay silent in face of the regime’s tyranny. Since the January 2018 uprisings, the Iranian people are using every opportunity to protest against the regime demanding their economic, social and political rights. The Iranian people’s continued nation-wide protests have made the regime desperate and frustrated.
While protests and unrests are escalating in Iran, PMOI/MEK resistance units are enjoying a public welcome as the only solution to put an end to the mullahs’ regime’s rule in Iran. The number of these units is growing, which helped them to widen the domain of their activities against the regime, a fact that the regime is discussing in its parliament and their circles with growing alarm every day.
