VZCZCXRO5023
PP RUEHBC RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHDE #0695/01 0441416
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 131416Z FEB 06
FM AMCONSUL DUBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8285
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 1199

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBAI 000695 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/30/2016 
TAGS: IR ECON PINR PGOV
SUBJECT: IRAN'S REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES: HIGH PRICES 
ALL AROUND 
 
DUBAI 00000695  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L. Davis, Consul General, Dubai, UAE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
1.(C) Summary: The real estate and construction industries in 
Iran suffer from high costs and corruption. Home ownership 
remains elusive for many Iranians, a problem especially those 
who can ill afford to pay ever increasing rents. Prices have 
risen throughout Iran as a result of the high price of building 
materials and government restrictions. End Summary. 
 
2.(C) Over the past several months, Conoff has spoken with a 
number of Iranians, mainly visa applicants, about the real 
estate market and construction industry in Iran.  Most say that 
housing prices, including rent, throughout Iran are very high in 
relation to incomes. Minoo Rafiei, an Iranian Ministry of 
Housing and Urban Development employee and professor at Tehran 
University, told Conoff that housing prices especially in Tehran 
had risen significantly in recent years, though they had lately 
leveled off. The rise in prices was greatest in southern Tehran 
because there were so many buyers and not enough houses or 
apartments to go around. Judging from visa interviews, rental 
properties are a good source of additional income. 
 
Mortgages Not an Option for Many 
-------------------------------- 
 
3.(C) Rafiei told Conoff that many Iranians who want to buy a 
home or apartment cannot afford it on their own. Many of these 
people would want to apply for loans to achieve home ownership, 
but do not qualify for home loans available under Iran's current 
banking system. She mentioned that she was working on a project 
(NFI) with the United Nations looking for ways to loosen up the 
banking industry in Iran in order to allow for home loans to 
low-income Iranians. 
 
Working to Alleviate Overcrowding, But with Little Success 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
4.(C) Rafiei told Conoff that the government has built forty 
suburban cities throughout Iran to decrease the impact of urban 
migration. Each city was intended to eventually house up to one 
million people.  Unfortunately, the plan thus far has failed. 
Nobody wants to move to these cities. One of the cities is 
located near the new Imam Khomeini International Airport outside 
Tehran. No one is moving to this city because there are no jobs, 
except at the airport, and the commute into Tehran is a 
"nightmare." (Note: The new airport is located 30 kilometers 
south of Tehran. Visa applicants and contacts alike have told 
Conoff that getting to the airport often takes several hours, 
especially during rush hour.) 
 
Home Ownership in Iran Key to Living the Good Life 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
5.(C) A Tehran University geography professor told Conoff in 
early August that for Iranians, owning one's own home or 
apartment is the key to living a comfortable life. Rental prices 
continue to climb, and she estimated that the majority of the 
income of poorer Iranians goes towards paying rent, with little 
left for other expenses. A third Tehran University professor 
echoed these sentiments, mentioning specifically that a small 
1-bedroom apartment in Tehran rents for 300,000 to 500,000 
tomans (approximately 329-549 USD) a month -- more than the 
average Iranian's monthly salary. As a result, she said, most 
Iranians must work at least two jobs just to pay the rent. These 
comments are supported by separate anecdotal information from 
the visa line. 
 
Causes of High Prices 
--------------------- 
 
6.(C) Aside from pure supply and demand -- too many 
buyers/renters and too little available housing in desirable 
areas -- one of the main reasons housing prices have soared is 
the rising cost of construction materials. One of the biggest 
complaints of applicants who work in the construction business 
is the rising cost of such materials, especially cement. In 
order to recoup their costs, they must pass on the cost to the 
consumer.  According to one visa applicant heavily involved in 
the construction business, prices have leveled off recently, but 
the price of construction materials, especially cement, remains 
high. The Chairman of the Board of an Iranian concrete company 
with offices in Tehran and Dubai told Conoff on mid-December the 
price of cement in Iran goes up yearly in the spring. He told 
Conoff that this year the price of cement went up 27.6 percent 
in May -- a percentage he said was not out of the ordinary. He 
did not elaborate on why cement prices increase yearly in the 
spring, but perhaps it is due to a rise in demand with the 
 
DUBAI 00000695  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
re-start of the building season after the winter. 
 
7.(C) In mid-October, an economic expert told an Iranian 
newspaper that government organizations had purchased and 
stockpiled huge amounts of cement for new construction projects, 
leading to an increase in the price of cement throughout the 
country.  Prices may also be high as a result of price 
manipulation: a Dubai-based Iranian businessman we spoke to 
claimed that the cement market is controlled by Habibollah 
Asgarowladi, Secretary General of the Islamic Coalition Society 
-- a key conservative political group. According the 
businessman, cement prices could be artificially high due to the 
influence of Asgarowladi and his ties to those in power the 
bazaar. 
 
8.(C) One factor said to have impacted housing prices in Tehran 
is former Mayor Ahmadinejad's municipal policies. A Dubai-based 
Iranian businessman told Conoff in mid-July that Ahmadinejad as 
mayor had done little for Tehran, except restrict building 
permits. Despite the good intentions behind the policy -- 
preserving the character of residential and historic areas of 
the city -- the end result was increased rents. The only people 
who ultimately profited from the policy were landlords, and 
those individuals/companies who had secured building permits 
before the restriction went into effect. According to Iranian 
press, there was a 14 percent decline in the number of building 
permits issued between March and August of last year. 
 
Construction Industry Faces Downturn 
------------------------------------ 
 
9.(SBU) Ironically, given sky-high real estate prices, the 
Iranian press is reporting that the construction industry is 
currently in the midst of a recession. Economic uncertainty 
brought about by Ahmedinejad's presidency might be a 
contributing factor: one Iranian builder told us that he had 
taken out a number of options to build before the elections, but 
that the soft post-election economy had led him to shelve his 
plans. A senior member of the Iranian State Housing and 
Construction Association stated in late November that the 
activity in the construction industry could be down as much as 
70 percent by the end of the current Iranian year. He complained 
that one of the key factors in the recession was the lack of 
support the industry receives from Iran's banking sector. He 
claimed the banking sector currently only provides 15-20 percent 
of the industry's financial requirements compared to 90 percent 
in other countries. He also criticized Tehran for tripling the 
industry's taxes this year, commenting that the government 
should not look to construction as a source of revenue. 
 
Corruption Rampant in Construction Industry 
------------------------------------------- 
 
10.(C) According to Iranian press reports from mid-October, the 
Judiciary and the Ministry of Information and Security have 
uncovered the "illegal buying and selling of land." It was not 
clear precisely what was illegal about the sales, but the 
reports indicated that losses to the government reached 6 
trillion rials (approximately 660 million USD), suggesting that 
public land was being sold at below-market value, presumably in 
exchange for kick-backs. The money has supposedly been returned 
to the public treasury, though reports gave no indication of how 
the government had recouped the money. The construction industry 
is likewise rumored to be corrupt: one visa applicant who owns a 
construction company in Iran told Conoff that it is not out of 
the ordinary for building inspectors to receive large payoffs 
when they come to inspect buildings. Some inspectors are even 
offered payoffs in advance, and do not even come to the building 
site, instead signing off on the building sight unseen. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
11.(C) To date, Ahmadinejad has failed to deliver on the 
promises of economic reform that helped get him elected. The 
high cost of housing (along with high un/under-employment) has 
led many young Iranians to delay getting married, but 
Ahmedinejad has reportedly withdrawn his "love fund" proposal, 
which had attracted many young voters with pledges of "a lump 
sum and interest free loans" aimed at helping youth from poorer 
families get married, find jobs, and buy homes.  While the 
merits of the specific proposal may be dubious, it at least 
represented a public acknowledgment of real problems that needed 
to be addressed.  At some point Ahmedinejad's penchant for 
headline-grabbing pandering to his public's baser instincts may 
cease to be enough to distract them from his failure to address 
their real-life problems. 
DAVIS