TEHRAN,Iran, March.28
Trend:
Housing deals in Iran have dropped considerably by 70 percent from February 20 to March 20 , due to coronavirus spread, said the chairman of the Real Estate Agents Union of Tehran province Hesam Oghbai, Trend reports via ILNA.
He said the drop was unprecedented in the last three years.
"The coronavirus spread has intensely effected the housing market and reduced the interaction to a minimum," he said. "The amount of empty houses is somewhere at 15 percent, while the process of renting or selling appartments with families still living in them has stopped due to spread of COVID-19."
He went on to add that the demands at real estate agencies have dropped by 70 percent.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The number of people killed by the disease has surpassed 27,300. Over 597,000 people have been confirmed as infected. Meanwhile, over 131,700 people have reportedly recovered.
Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. Several countries are working on a vaccine against the new virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
Iran is one of the countries heavily affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 32,300 people have been infected, 2,378 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 11,000 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.