Moroccan Real Estate Market Slumps: Sales Down 10%, Prices Drop 5.5% in Q3

The number of transactions fell by 10.1% and real estate asset prices fell by 5.5% during this period, according to the real estate asset price index (IPAI), developed by Bank Al-Maghrib and the National Agency for Land Conservation, Cadastre and Cartography.

According to the report, the decline in the number of transactions is attributable to the underperformance of residential properties, whose sales fell by 17.1%, while increases were recorded for land (3.2%) and commercial properties (10.6%).

As for real estate asset prices, their contraction affected both residential assets (-6.3%), land (-3.7%) and commercial properties (-9.5%). On a quarterly basis, the number of transactions, "after the significant increase" recorded in the 2nd quarter, sales showed a sharp decline (-40.9%) in the 3rd quarter "to return to their historical levels", according to the report.

Real estate asset prices, on the other hand, show a slight increase of 0.2% from one quarter to the next, the result of a 1.5% increase in land prices and decreases of 0.5% in residential prices and 0.9% in commercial property prices.

Regarding sales, their decline follows a 19% drop for apartments and 14.9% for villas, as well as a 21.1% increase for houses. As for commercial properties, the change in their prices results from a 13.8% decrease for offices and 8.7% for commercial premises. As for transactions, they increased for both offices and commercial premises.

The breakdown by city shows a drop in prices in Rabat, Casablanca and Tangier, while in Marrakech they recorded an increase compared to the previous quarter.