Housing sector is the main components of each country’s capital stock w hich would affect the
economic activities and measuring the wealth; therefore a precise estimation of it would be
required for assessing the nation’s capital. The inventory of housing units per year is the most
important information needed in housing sect or as well as other economic and social planning
and research sectors.
The numbers of buildings in Iran are decreasing on one hand due to their continuous
depreciation and on the other hand because of the economic factors which play a significant role
in their destruction. The sudden and unplanned increase in the urban population causes the
increase in the housing demand as one of the basic needs of the households. In addition the
unprecedented interest in building construction and limitations in the suppl y of urban land
would considerably increase the prices of land and housing which results in the destruction of
existing buildings which are completely suitable for settling to provide newly constructed
settlements.
Furthermore only once per ten years (the last census was conducted after 5 years in Iran) the
census population can be conducted and the population in between years is estimated based on
the growth rate. Similarly the number of housing units in the country is estimated based on the
net growth rat e of housing units (units added and demolished units).
Therefore it is required to determine the components which influence the building destructions
and provide methods to calculate their rates. This will help the housing planners adopt
appropriate strate gies to mitigate this problem by developing new rules and regulations.
In this study the relationship between the capital stock in general and the inventory of housing
units in particular is evaluated, different kinds of destructions along with the influe ntial
components including the economic factors are analyzed. Different methods for the estimation
of demolition rates are compared and the best approach based on census data is selected and it
will be calculated for Iran.