Moroccan real estate sector braces for impact as government delays housing support
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Loading... - Tuhami Amine
- 05 Apr 2023
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Real estate sales in Morocco recorded a decline of about 4.8 percent last year, according to data issued by Bank Al-Maghrib and the National Agency for Real Estate Preservation. The figures showed that residential real estate transactions fell by 5.5 percent, urban land by 1.3 percent, and real estate for professional use by 6.1 percent.
Despite this, Mustapha Ouyaden, a real estate agent, said that the market was still surviving, with prices stabilizing last year. He noted, however, that many customers were reluctant to accept the current market prices, especially after a difficult year in 2020.
On an annual basis, real estate asset prices stabilized, recording a slight decline of about 0.3 percent. Urban land prices increased by 1.2 percent, and prices for real estate destined for professional use rose by 0.5 percent, while residential real estate declined by 0.1 percent.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the real estate sector in Morocco, and the government has announced its intention to allocate direct financial support to families for the acquisition of housing, instead of granting tax incentives to real estate developers. However, two months into 2023, the government has yet to disclose the amount of support or the method of its distribution.
Abdelhamid Naji, a retired family man who moved to Tangier with his family in 2022, spoke to Hespress EN. He explained that he struggled to find a home for three years. He retired in 2019 and was looking to settle somewhere with his wife, but the pandemic hit and they had to change their plans. He ended up taking out a mortgage for his residence, but it was not enough, and he had to borrow from relatives.
According to official data, the tax exemptions allocated by the government in 2021 to the real estate sector amounted to 6.5 billion dirhams. The government uses tax incentives as a mechanism to reduce the tax burden on some economic groups or activities, taking various forms between reducing tax rates and complete exemption. Read More…
