Morocco housing crisis: empty apartments fueling real estate surge

The Tangier-Tétouan-Al Hoceima region alone accounts for 15.6% of inactive apartments nationally, ranking just behind Casablanca-Settat. This phenomenon particularly affects Tangier, where vacant homes represent nearly 18% of the total residential stock. This unavailability stems largely from acquisitions made by diaspora members, who occupy their properties only occasionally during their holidays in Morocco.

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This massive concentration of closed secondary residences significantly reduces available real estate supply. The direct consequence of this prolonged vacancy translates into major difficulties for low-income households, who now struggle to find decent and affordable housing options on the regional market.

On several occasions, local authorities have had to organize extensive campaigns with the support of auxiliary forces to evict undocumented sub-Saharan migrants settled in some of these abandoned buildings, citing public safety imperatives. Alongside these field interventions, the executive launched a targeted assistance program in March 2023 for first-time homebuyers to attempt to ease property access.

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These initiatives have nevertheless failed to halt the dynamics of this real estate crisis. Voices are now rising to demand stronger government action, notably calling for an in-depth audit of the true owners of these unoccupied units, with particular attention paid to properties from the economic sector that previously benefited from public subsidies.