Morocco: the soaring prices of small apartments are worrying

Parliamentarian Marwa El Ansari, from the Istiqlal group, expressed her outrage at this situation, denouncing the greed of some developers who sell these small apartments, which she calls "matchboxes", at high prices, making them inaccessible to families with limited and average incomes. The direct housing assistance program is dedicated to this category, reacted Fatima Zahra Mansouri, the Minister of Land Development, Housing and Urban Planning, indicating that her department has signed an agreement with the Chamber of Notaries to reduce procedural costs and facilitate the acquisition of housing for citizens.

According to the minister, the program is a great success. This is evidenced by the number of applications, which is around 3,500 per month in recent months, while the monthly average was barely 2,500 at the beginning of the year. Thanks to the direct housing assistance program, the number of authorized projects has increased by 14%, cement sales by 8.24%, real estate transactions by 12.1%, housing loans by 1.49%, and credits allocated to real estate developers by 5.57%, said the government member, stressing that in view of these figures, the program has boosted the construction sector and provided a breath of fresh air to small and medium-sized enterprises that have realized nearly 87% of the housing.

For some parliamentarians, the program is far from meeting expectations, in this context of rising prices. "The aid is granted to citizens, but it is absorbed by the developers," denounces El Ansari, noting that some apartments of less than 50 square meters are sold for 450,000 dirhams, an exaggerated increase that reduces the effect of the aid. On this subject, the minister explained that the market is subject to the law of supply and demand and that the government cannot set a ceiling on prices. The deputies called on the government to regulate apartment prices and to ensure that the aid leads to an increase in demand without affecting prices.