Moroccan Real Estate Faces Mixed Signals: Price Index Rises Amid Stalled Construction Projects

Bank Al-Maghrib and the National Agency for Land Conservation, Cadastre and Cartography (ANCFCC) note a certain improvement in the index of real estate asset prices, year-on-year, of 1.8% in the 1st quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, cranes, machinery and various equipment are not running at full capacity on the various construction sites, which are struggling to restart or are completely at a standstill.

In a note on the overall trend of the real estate market in the first quarter of 2021, the central bank and the ANCFCC explain that this increase is justified by the 1.2% increase in residential assets and 2.9% for land and commercial properties.

Specifically, the note indicates that residential prices have soared by 1.2%. The same goes for apartments (0.9%), houses (1.8%) and villas at around 4.6%. In addition, the report indicates a strong increase in sales up to 42.4% for 42.3% for apartments, 38.3% for houses and 59.9% for villas.

At the land level, land prices climbed 2.9% year-on-year while transactions increased by 76.1%, the same source supports. Comparing prices by city in the first quarter, the note shows a certain stagnation in Rabat and Casablanca, a 35% increase in Marrakech and a 1.2% decline in Tangier, according to the economists of