Financial Tribune - After enjoying a short period of growth on the back of stable outlooks and government support, Iran's housing and construction sector has once again contracted in the first six months of the current Iranian year that ended on Sept. 22, a central bank official said.

"As indices fell, the added value of the housing and construction sector was negative and contracted by 2.2%. We must think of a solution considering this level of instability," Abolfazl Akrami, director general for economic affairs at the Central Bank of Iran, was quoted as saying by the official news website of Iran's Ministry of Roads and Urban Development on Friday.

Previous CBI data show that the housing and construction sector registered a small growth rate of 0.1% during the first quarter of the current Iranian year that ended on June 21, in what many believe could be its last such growth in the foreseeable future.