Morocco Delays Direct Aid Program for First-Time Homebuyers

The issuance of the decree setting the amount and procedures for granting direct financial aid to first-time home buyers is slow to materialize. Validated in Finance Act No. 50-22 for the 2023 fiscal year, the article 8 of which states that "aid is established to support housing for the benefit of buyers of dwellings intended for main residence", this aid is still not a reality. This decree "cannot be dealt with in one day," explains government spokesman Mustapha Baïtas, questioned about its release date during the weekly press briefing held on Thursday, March 2. "Of course, it is a provision that appears in the 2023 Finance Act, but there are many stakeholders. And then, to adopt a decree that responds to the question, that does not give rise to criticism and that really provides direct aid to the people concerned, especially those who are about to get married, it must be studied in depth to be able to provide real answers," he added.

In a statement to the newspaper Le Matin, Meryem El Ouardighi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Territorial Planning, Urbanism, Housing and City Policy, said that this decree is the subject of many consultations which are the cause of the delay in its adoption. According to another source within the ministry, there is a lot of back and forth between several stakeholders, including the Budget department. She will specify that the current version is very different from the first, due to these consultations.

Anice Benjelloun, vice-president of the National Federation of Real Estate Developers (FNPI), for his part, recounted the genesis of this aid. According to him, the FNPI is at the origin of this direct aid. He recalled that it had proposed it to the previous government after the end of the social housing program at 250,000 dirhams in 2021, in order to "put real estate developers, wrongly accused of benefiting from tax advantages, out of the question". The real beneficiaries are the buyers. "Now the new government has taken note of our proposal and announced this new system, but the implementing decree is indeed late," he laments. While some mention aid that "amounts to 100,000, even 150,000 dirhams", Benjelloun assures that "no one has an idea of what will be allocated."