Moroccan Real Estate Trend: Renters Outpace Buyers Amid Economic Uncertainty

"By choice or by default, acquisition is no longer paramount," says Yassine Meniari, CEO of the real estate agency Aykana. "The real estate market is showing the dynamism of the 1970s where demand was largely driven by rental, relegating acquisition to the background," adds Mohammed Lahlou, founding president of AMAI and CEO of Carrefour Sakane, quoted by La vie éco.

This customer preference is explained by the difficulty in projecting oneself over the repayment period (25 years maximum), due to lack of visibility on economic prospects and the shaking of confidence in the sector itself, explains Mr. Meniari. According to him, real estate no longer yields as much as during the heyday if one integrates the cost of financing, the various taxes and charges paid throughout the period of ownership or upon resale, or the depreciation of the property.

On the market, customers requesting to rent an apartment were already more numerous than those requesting to acquire one before the health crisis. The reasons are the difficulties facing the acquisition segment, in particular the mismatch between supply and demand and prices deemed high.