Alireza Jafari also announced that 140,000 National Housing Movement units are currently under construction in the new towns across the country.

As announced by the head of the National Land and Housing Organization, 1,000 units of the National Housing Movement have been completed across the country and are ready to be handed over to applicants.

“Our priority at the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development is to accelerate the progress of the National Housing Movement program and we must know that the faster completion of these projects, even for one day, means solving the housing problem for a family,” Arsalan Maleki said on January 1.

The National Housing Movement is one of the major policies of the 13th government in the housing sector, and according to this policy, the construction of four million residential units is planned in four years.

It is one of the projects through which the government is trying to help low-income individuals in society become homeowners.

Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister Hadi Abbasi-Asl has emphasized the acceleration in implementing the Housing Construction Leap Law to achieve the goals of the 13th government.

In late September 2023, Transport and Urbana Development Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash announced the launching of a program for allocating free land (in the framework of the National Housing Movement) to young couples in order to help them build houses.

The National Housing Movement to construct four million housing units in four years is one of the major plans of the current government in the housing sector.

According to the plan, out of these four million residential units, 3.2 million units will be constructed in cities and 800,000 units in villages.

After the National Housing Action Plan (started in 2018), the National Housing Movement is the government’s second major program to provide affordable housing units for the low-income classes.

The operation for the construction of 209,212 residential units of the National Housing Movement began in February 2022.

The ceremony to begin the mentioned operation and also to launch some development projects in the housing sector was attended by former Transport and Urban Development Minister Rostam Qasemi.

Also, in July 2022, the minister inaugurated a project for the construction of the first group of affordable housing units for laborers under the framework of the National Housing Movement.

On September 10, 2023, 1,278 units of the National Housing Movement were handed over to the applicants in a ceremony attended by Aref Norouzi, the acting director of the Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam Khomeini.

The mentioned units were delivered to the applicants in five provinces throughout the country.

The Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam Khomeini has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development to construct 100,000 units under the framework of the National Housing Movement.

According to Norouzi, the headquarters also completed and handed over 2,000 such units back in April, 2023.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the official said construction of the National Housing Movement units is underway by the Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam Khomeini in 27 provinces.

President Ebrahim Raisi has stated that the National Housing Movement is the flagship project of the 13th government to meet the needs of the people, and in addition to the Transport and Urban Development Ministry, all relevant organizations are also striving to achieve it.

The post Construction of 200,000 National Housing Movement units begins in new towns appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the second meeting of the government’s Supreme Housing Council, Qasemi said the land for the construction of 2.4 million housing units has been prepared and allocated, Mehr News Agency reported.

Pursuing the National Housing Plan Action, which is aimed to provide people with affordable housing units, the new government has defined a comprehensive program to construct such housing units all over the country.

The official noted that in the first phase of our new program for the National Housing Plan Action, the construction of two million housing units has been started across the country and the share of each province has been determined.

“In today’s meeting, which was attended by governors of different provinces in the form of video conferences, it was decided that the land allocations for the construction of four million housing units will be determined by the end of the current [Iranian calendar year] year (late March 2022),” the minister said.

He further mentioned a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with the Mostazafan Foundation, noting: “According to the signed memorandum, 900 hectares of the foundation’s lands throughout the country will be handed over [to the Transport Ministry] free of charge to be allocated for the National Housing Action Plan.”

Commenced in winter 2018, 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.

Back in March, former Transport Minister Mohammad Eslami had announced that 510,000 residential units will be provided for the applicants under the framework of the National Housing Action Plan during the current year.

In early September 2019, the registration of the National Housing Action Plan was started from Kerman Province. The second round of registration began in ten other provinces in November that year.

Applicants in Sistan-Baluchestan, Qom, North Khorasan, and South Khorasan provinces registered first and those from Kordestan, Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad, and Golestan came in the second stage, while from Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Hamedan, and Yazd provinces came in the third stage.

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Addressing the press on the sidelines of the 21st International Exhibition of Building and Construction Industry (Iran Confair 2021), which he inaugurated at Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds on Monday, the minister said that in the next two weeks, good news will be announced in terms of the government’s housing program, which is the practical step to start construction of the houses.

“We have no problem with the land issue, and this strategic move by the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development to establish a land bank is envisaged in a two-month plan that provides a large portion of the land for our four-year goals in the housing sector”, he explained.

It is while last week, the deputy head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) had said that the lack of infrastructure makes the one-million housing project a challenge.

Mohammad Atabak believes that from the point of view of providing the required materials, the implementation of the annual construction plan of one million houses is possible and feasible, but the lack of infrastructure such as water, electricity and gas is likely to pose a serious challenge to this project.

The production of constructional materials can certainly meet the need for the construction of this number of houses per year, but not in a situation when power outages have taken the breath away of cement and steel factories, he noted.

He said that if the weakness of the infrastructure, especially in the field of energy supply (gas and electricity), is not eliminated, the implementation of this project will probably be challenged.

The deputy speaker of the parliament has recently said that by using the land, facilities and the capacity of the private sector, it is possible to build one million housing units in the country.

Speaking in a TV interview on August 29, Ali Nikzad referred to the plan for surge in housing construction, and said that the MPs presented the plan to the parliament, which became law yesterday.

He continued by pointing out that this plan is very progressive; in this plan, the issue of land and the transfer of government lands to the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development was accelerated.

Also, the deputy Head of Iran’s Mass Construction Association Iraj Rahbar has recently said the country’s contractors are capable of constructing one million housing units a year if the necessary funding and land is provided.

Mentioning a plan for the construction of one million affordable housing units per year by the new government, Rahbar said: “Allocating land and financing are two important factors for the successful implementation of any housing project, and if these two are provided, building one million housing units per year will be easily possible.”

The official noted that over the last three years, many efforts have been made to allocate the needed land for housing projects including the National Housing Action Plan to the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development, but the land has not been provided as needed.

Rahbar further stressed that there are different ways to attract financial resources for housing construction projects including the use of private sector potentials.

In early August, Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh, deputy transport, and urban development minister announced that planning has been made and preparations have been done to start constructing 1.3 million affordable housing units across the country.

Mahmoudzadeh said the required regulations have been prepared and facilities have been created to provide land for the mentioned housing units by the next government.

“With the measures taken, the conditions are more favorable for the new government to begin the work,” he noted.

Started in winter 2018, 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.

Back in March, former Transport Minister Mohammad Eslami had announced that 510,000 residential units will be provided for the applicants under the framework of the National Housing Action Plan during the current year.

In early September 2019, the registration of the National Housing Action Plan was started from Kerman Province. The second round of registration began in ten other provinces in November that year.

Applicants in Sistan-Baluchestan, Qom, North Khorasan and South Khorasan provinces registered first and those from Kordestan, Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad, and Golestan came in the second stage, while from Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Hamedan, and Yazd provinces came in the third stage.

The post First step to start one-million housing project to be taken by next 2 weeks appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Mentioning a plan for the construction of one million affordable housing units per year by the new government, Rahbar said: “allocating land and financing are two important factors for the successful implementation of any housing project, and if these two are provided, building one million housing units per year will be easily possible.”

The official noted that over the last three years, many efforts have been made to allocate the needed land for housing projects including the National Housing Action Plan to the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development, but the land has not been provided as needed.

Rahbar further stressed that there are different ways to attract financial resources for housing construction projects including the use of private sector potentials.

If the trust between the private sector and the government is restored, the issue of taxation on housing projects is resolved and the government’s dues to the private sector contractors are paid on time, mass builders will be more motivated to participate in construction projects, he said.

The official noted that private sector investors have huge resources that can be guided into mass construction projects if they are encouraged and appropriate incentives are considered by the government.

Referring to the recent rise in the prices of cement and steel as main items used in construction, he continued: “The rise in the prices of cement and steel is one of the obstacles in housing production that the government must address; the government has provided all the necessary facilities including cheap energy for the cement and steel production units, but we see that such products are exported instead of being supplied to the domestic market.”

Earlier this month, Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh, deputy transport, and urban development minister announced that planning has been made and preparations have been done to start constructing 1.3 million affordable housing units across the country.

Mahmoudzadeh said the required regulations have been prepared and facilities have been created to provide land for the mentioned housing units by the next government.

“With the measures taken, the conditions are more favorable for the new government to begin the work,” he noted.

The post Domestic contractors able to construct 1m housing units per year appeared first on Iran News Daily.

As reported, the parliament’s Economic Committee’s report on the mentioned plan was discussed and approved in the session.

The recent shift of liquidity from production to the unproductive markets in Iran has caused high inflation and damage to some industries in the country.

As many experts believe, the imposition of capital gains tax is the only way to exit the liquidity from the unproductive markets and lead it to production.

Based on the approved plan, if a person buys gold, foreign currency, house, or car and then sells it, he/she must pay the related tax.

As defined by the Investopedia, capital gains tax is a levy assessed on the positive difference between the sale price of the asset and its original purchase price. Long-term capital gains tax is a levy on the profits from the sale of assets held for more than a year. Short-term capital gains tax applies to assets held for a year or less, and is taxed as ordinary income.

While CGT prevents the wealth to be owned just by a few people, it leads the liquidity toward production, and help re-distribution of wealth and income in the society.

It was in the middle of the Iranian calendar year 1391 (March 2012-March 2013) that economic officials apparently thought of passing a capital gains tax law.

Finally, this plan was sent to the cabinet by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs in February 2019, after a seven-year delay, and reached the parliament after 10 months.

Capital gains tax is one of the tax bases that, although it can increase public resources, but mainly has a regulatory function and can play an effective role in regulating various markets such as housing, cars, gold and currency by weakening unproductive activities and reducing speculative incentives.

In this regard, the plan on capital gains tax was proposed with the aim of supporting production and investment, reducing fluctuations in asset markets such as car and housing, gold and foreign currency, as well as preventing a sudden rise in prices in these markets.

Now, the question is if CGT can help increase the homebuyers’ purchasing power.

While some opponents of the capital gains tax claim that this tax base benefits from inflation and is therefore inflationary, the truth is that this tax prevents inflation.

There are two claims in opposition to CGT.

First, it is said that this tax causes the seller to collect the CGT amount from the buyer, and as a result, it leads to an increase in prices in the housing market.

Secondly, some say that this tax, which is to be collected from the owners from the place of income and increase in the value of housing, is due to general inflation in the society and increase in the price of all goods, and the owner has no role in creating value added and raising housing prices to pay taxes on that income.

On the other hand, many experts emphasize the anti-inflationary nature of the capital gains tax and believe that people are the beneficiaries of this tax.

According to this group of experts, the losers from this tax base are speculators and unofficial traders who seek to earn astronomical profits by creating fictitious inflation and then creating false added value in non-productive assets, while regulatory taxes, especially capital gains tax, are an obstacle to such profits.

Some experts may believe that this tax base will cause stagnation and decline in transactions, but it is not true that it will affect prices; while the mentioned tax base reduces the turnover of the housing sector as well as reduces the incentive to buy and sell frequently and prevents the increase of prices and inflation of housing.

The post Can CGT increase homebuyers’ purchasing power? appeared first on Iran News Daily.

In an address to a ceremony on Wednesday, Mohammad Eslami added that the inauguration ceremony of the residential units will be held in late October after handing them over to applicants, IRNA reported.

At present, 40,000 housing units, constructed as part of the Mehr housing scheme – a project initiated in former Iranian administrations to provide people with cheap housing – are being given to the applicants, he said.

Speaking at the ceremony, the head of the Housing Foundation of the Islamic Revolution, Alireza Tabesh, said his foundation has constructed over 1.23 million housing units in small cities and villages since 2012.

He added that the houses were constructed under the Mehr scheme.

Tabesh gave assurance that the foundation will complete construction of 250,000 semi-finished housing units by March 2021, adding that it plans to soon begin building 310,000 houses in rural areas.

The post Over 5,000 Housing Units Ready for Applicants: Minister appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The housing price has also climbed 43 percent in the capital city of Tehran, in Bahman of this year from the same month in the previous year.

As reported, the number of real estate deals increased 25 percent in the past month from its preceding month and 42 percent from the same month of the past year.

Two month ago, Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister for Housing and Construction Affairs Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh had said that the government was planning on launching a national real estate and housing system, aimed at controlling the country’s housing and real estate market by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2020).

“In order to control and regulate the real estate market, the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development is following four major programs which include taxing vacant houses, completing Mehr housing units, constructing and supplying new housing units through the National Housing Plan and finally setting up a professional real estate and housing system,” the official explained.

According to Mahmoudzadeh, one of the main goals of establishing this system is to identify vacant and unused houses in order to receive tax from the owners.

“The system will be able to bring back 2.6 million vacant housing units into the real estate market, and consequently affect the rent prices significantly,” he said.

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