Housing Crisis Grips Northern Morocco as Prices Soar, Locals Priced Out

Has housing become an inaccessible luxury in Northern Morocco? In Tetouan, Martil and M’diq, finding rental housing at affordable prices has become a real challenge for civil servants recently assigned to these cities. According to specialists, this situation is due not only to soaring prices and real estate speculation, but also to the absence of a legal framework regulating the daily rental of furnished houses and apartments.

Assigned to Tetouan, Ismail F., a young civil servant, told Hespress that he encountered serious difficulties in finding rental housing in Tetouan or Martil. The thirty-year-old had to solicit the services of an intermediary, a real estate agent, a broker friend and a long chain of real estate mediators before succeeding. As the summer season approaches, it is particularly difficult to find a house to rent, as owners prefer to rent to tourists, he explained.

The young man denounced the exaggerated increase in prices of rental properties and those for sale, including the commission charged which amounts to one month’s rent. In the cities of the northern kingdom, there has been an increase of about 30% in real estate prices in some areas over the past five years. The growing enthusiasm of Moroccans living abroad and foreign investors for real estate in these cities complicates life for middle and low-income Moroccans. In some upscale neighborhoods of Tetouan, the price per square meter has reached 13,000 dirhams.

Zakaria A., another young civil servant in Martil, also shared his situation. His landlord ordered him to vacate the apartment he was renting before his marriage so that he could put it up for daily rental during the summer. According to the owner of a real estate agency, a house of about 78 square meters including three bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom and a kitchen is for sale at the price of 700,000 dirhams. But the price written in the sales contract is 530,000 dirhams, which means that 170,000 dirhams illegally go to the real estate developer.