Morocco’s Real Estate Market Surges: Transactions Soar 220% in Q2 2021

The indicators are encouraging for the real estate sector. Transactions for all asset categories (residential, land and commercial) recorded an increase of 220.5% in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. In detail, residential increased by +186.8%, land by 393.9% and commercial by +198.5%.

However, a "encouraging" price decline of 1 to 4.9% is noted, according to Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) and the National Agency for Land Conservation, Cadastre and Cartography (ANCFCC) in their information bulletin on the real estate asset price index (IPAI) over the same period.

To read: Morocco’s Real Estate Market Rebounds as Transactions Surge in 2023

In the post-pandemic period, "we are currently witnessing a decline in real estate asset prices, which is quite natural, insofar as the prices become fairer," explains Adnane Bajeddi, MRICS (Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) and real estate expert. And he adds: "Under the effect of the current economic constraints, sellers are increasingly inclined to set their prices with moderation, in order to ensure a quick transaction, and for some real estate developers, in order to liquidate their unsold stock; hence the decline recorded by the IPAI".

According to Bajeddi, this increase in the volume of real estate transactions can also be justified by the resumption of demand from economic operators and other factors including tax incentives on registration fees translated by total exemption granted on the acquisition of social housing or low-value real estate and a 50% reduction on the acquisition of housing or land for residential use (under certain conditions). It is also the reduction in mortgage rates in order to encourage real estate outstandings which recorded an increase of 4.4% at the end of May 2021. The expert does not overlook the strong 48% increase in transfers from Moroccans residing abroad (MRE) compared to the first half of 2020, reaching more than 44.19 billion dirhams (MMDH).