Morocco’s Real Estate Tax Break Set to Expire, Ending Home Buyer Incentives

No more total exemption from registration fees as of June 30 next. The tax incentive recorded in the 2021 amended finance law expires on this deadline date. This measure aims to promote real estate transactions in a context marked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the decline in real estate acquisitions, particularly due to confinement.

Persons interested in purchasing a social housing unit of type 250,000 DH HTVA have thus benefited and continue to benefit from the total exemption from registration fees. "The measure consists of the exemption from registration fees (social housing at 250,000 DH HTVA and low real estate value at 140,000 DH) or a 50% reduction (price capped at 4 million DH)," explains L’Économiste, specifying that it applies to real estate and land intended for the construction of personal housing (main or secondary).

"It’s a very advantageous measure, which has helped to boost the sector in recent months. Unfortunately, it is limited in time. Knowing that it expires at the end of June, the system should only benefit those who have started the purchase of their property in March 2021 since the processing of files by banks can take up to two months. However, the bulk of the financing is provided by bank credit. The time required for the examination of files by notaries must also be taken into account," confides a real estate developer.

The situation will change from July 1st. The normal scale (registration fees) will be applied again: 4% for the purchase of a dwelling and 5% for vacant land. Real estate developers would have liked this measure to be extended. "The incentive should have been extended until the end of 2021 to capitalize on the recovery of a convalescent economy," insists this developer.