Moroccan Expats Boost Summer Real Estate Sales in Home Country

Many MREs are taking advantage of their summer vacation in Morocco to acquire real estate. For Mubawab, quoted by Le Matin, the return of MREs "can have an effect on real estate transactions [...] due to their strong demand for real estate in the regions where they have family ties. However, in recent years, the impact of MREs on the real estate market has been low compared to the period from 2000 to 2015." Generally, MREs "are looking to invest in real estate, whether for their own use or as a long-term investment," he adds, noting that their return can also "have an impact on property prices."

From January to May, real estate sales were boosted thanks to MREs from France (15%), Belgium (3%), Spain, the Netherlands and the United States (2% each), Germany, Canada and Italy (1% each), the site informs, specifying that MREs are most often looking for apartments (61%), villas (12%), land (11%), houses (9%), riads (4%) and commercial properties (2%). These demands are more concentrated in the cities of Casablanca and Marrakech (19% each), Tangier (11%), Rabat (7%), Agadir (6%) and Témara and Salé (3% each) and Kenitra (2%). According to Gormand, the demand is mainly for immediately available properties, noting a decrease in "off-plan sales."

Most MREs tend to acquire real estate "for their families, in their regions of origin," while others "buy a property to make it their main or secondary residence in Morocco in seaside projects," explains Anice Benjelloun, vice-president of the National Federation of Real Estate Developers (FNPI). However, this strong demand from MREs in real estate "is not the relaunch expected by the sector," he estimates, recalling that "we have gone from 300,000 to 100,000 units in production. Building permits have fallen by 50%, deposited plans by 50%. There is also job destruction: between 300,000 and 400,000."