Real estate in Morocco: 2.4 million vacant homes, the urban "waste" that mocks the housing crisis

The real estate stock of Moroccan cities displays a structural anomaly. In 2024, 2.4 million dwellings are not used as primary residences. This massive figure, from the latest census by the HCP, includes 1.12 million vacant homes and 1.29 million secondary residences. This inert mass now represents nearly 30% of the overall urban stock, an apparent abundance that paradoxically coexists with an estimated quantitative deficit of 334,000 units.

This situation is the result of a spectacular acceleration over the last two decades. While the total number of homes has doubled since 2004, the stock of unoccupied units has more than tripled. The most radical transformation concerns secondary residences: their volume has exploded, jumping from less than 200,000 to more than 1.29 million in twenty years. These properties, used only a few weeks a year, occupy a growing share of urban space, increasing from 4.7% to 15.5% of the total.

The phenomenon primarily affects modern housing. Modern Moroccan apartments and houses account for more than 93% of this phantom stock. Geographically, vacancy follows the economic and coastal axis: the regions of Casablanca-Settat, Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceïma and Rabat-Salé-Kénitra concentrate half of the vacant homes and 53% of the secondary residences, drawing a map of real estate where speculation and vacation homes often prevail over permanent residential needs.