Morocco’s Real Estate Prices Decline as Housing Market Faces Pressure

The real estate sector is not out of the woods yet. To be convinced of this, one needs to refer to the latest observations made by Bank Al-Maghrib as reported by the newspaper Aujourd’hui Le Maroc.

According to Bank Al-Maghrib, on a quarterly basis, the real estate asset price index (IPAI) fell by 0.7%, reflecting declines of 1.1% for residential prices and 0.4% for land prices, as well as an increase of 0.9% for prices of professional-use properties. Regarding the volume of transactions, it recorded a 12.7% decrease, reflecting declines in all categories, with rates of 13.4% for residential properties, 12.2% for land, and 8.5% for professional-use assets.

Prices have seen a 0.2% decline year-on-year, reflecting declines of 0.3% for residential and 0.5% for professional, while land prices increased by 0.3%. As for transactions, their number increased by 1.1%, with a 4.5% increase for residential. In contrast, sales of land and professional-use properties fell by 7.4% and 4% respectively.

Furthermore, for the residential sector, prices fell by 1.1%, reflecting declines in all asset categories with rates of 0.9% for apartments, 1.3% for houses, and 5.1% for villas. Regarding the volume of transactions, it fell by 13.4%, the result of regressions in apartment sales of 13%, house sales of 15.8%, and villa sales of 21.5%. On an annual basis, assets depreciated by 0.3%, in line with price declines of 0.2% for apartments and 1.4% for houses, with villa prices remaining unchanged. Compared to sales, they increased by 4.5%, with increases of 4.4% for apartments, 6.6% for houses, and 2.7% for villas.