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Morocco: Morocco Real Estate, Construction, and Housing

2012/01/25

 

 

Morocco Real Estate, Construction, and Housing

 

> Morocco Luxury Real Estate
> Morocco Social Real Estate
> Group Jamai -Leader in Morocco Real Estate and Construction

Ever since Morocco put in place its “Vision 2010” plan of national development in 2001, the real estate, construction, and housing market has been Morocco Real Estateof the majority dynamic and growing sectors of the economy, constituting about 6% of GDP.

Morocco has been exceptionally successful at attracting foreign investment capital. This is primarily—but not exclusively—due to the increase of the tourist sector, where the greatest national planning and effort has been to build tourism as the dominant source of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, inclunding a source of significant job increase.

Ever since Morocco put in place its “Vision 2010” plan of national development in 2001, the real estate, construction, and housing market has been of the majority dynamic and growing sectors of the economy, constituting about 6% of GDP.

As a result, Morocco real-estate and especially, the housing market in Morocco may be best considered in terms of major sectors: high-income luxury housing, and lower-income social housing, which are entirely different markets. High-income luxury housing is clearly linked to the international market, while low-income social housing is driven by local request.

Morocco Real Estate Luxury Housing

The purpose of Morocco’s drive to increase tourism is not merely bring short term visitors to Morocco, but as well to attract long term residents who desire to purchase and own their own properties in Morocco real-estate sector, such as retirees and successful professionals and entrepreneurs who can afford vacation homes. Thus Morocco initially planned 6 new resort cities in coastal regions, and has since added several other planned new cities throughout the country.


Morocco Real Estate and Social HousingOf course, it is expected that this housing shall as well attract middle and upper class Moroccans. Similarly, there are a multitude of luxury housing developments both in and around Morocco’s major cities and other tourist destinations. So far, these had little difficulty attracting both indigenous and major foreign investors.Morocco Real Estate Stadium

The social housing market in Morocco is driven by three major factors: demographics, migration from rural to urban, and rising GDP.

Demographics. The central fact of Morocco today is the huge people bulge that has occurred in the last decades, resulting in a 50% increase in people; from approximately 24m. in 1990, to almost 36m. in 2010, resulting in-third of the country under 21 years of age. According to the CIA Factbook, the median age of the people is 26.9 years.

Rural to Urban Migration. While the agriculture sector is sill Morocco’s major employer, it cannot absorb the huge numbers of young who are now coming of age. As a result, according to Ahmed Taufiq, Housing Minister, “Each year, Moroccan cities receive 60,000 new inhabitants which entails the construction of 150,000 new houses over an are area of 500 hectares.”

Rising GDP. While Morocco has had of the lowest GDP-PPP since independence in 1956, its wealth has been rising since 2001, when it began its drive to attract FDI and expand both its tourism, industrial, and agricultural export sectors. As a result, the government has, since the mid-1990s, led major efforts to replace the slum areas around cities with decent housing, and raise both educational level and standard of living of its citizenry in order to staff its new tourism facilities and its new industries.

Because of these three factors, an “estimated 70% of market request is for social housing,” says Youssef Ben Mansour, Chairman of the National Federation of Housing Developers.

According to Abdallah J. Slaoui, Chairman of Jascom, Morocco Real Estate

“there is currently a deficit of about on million units, along with an annual increase of 100,000 units. Today, Morocco builds 150,000—at best, 200,000—units per year. We’re just covering the annual increase, and barely” denting the total deficit.

of Morocco’s efforts to combat the problem is its “Cities without Slums” program, for which over US$3 bil. has been set aside to improve the condition of existing homes. Additional than 138,000 people have thus been benefited with better housing.

In 2010, the government announced major programs to increase social housing and stimulate Morocco real-estate. These included significant tax breaks for developers, guarantees to spur banks to grant mortgages, subsidies for both developers and buyers to bring down the cost of housing, and the making available of 3,853 hectares of public land for social housing. The present goal is to build, market, and finance the purchase of at least 200,000 units per year.


Group Jamai - Leader in Morocco Real Estate and Construction

of the oldest and major operators in Morocco real estate sector is Group Jamai, which is family business formed by brothers and their cousins who bring together a combination of competences in three major sectors of the economy: textiles, agriculture, and real estate development.

Morocco Luxury Real Estate and Luxury Housing

Since its inception, Group Jamai has been involved with both luxury housing and social housing, and a lot of projects that mix both types of housing. Part its luxury and mixed housing developments are Anassi, its first major project, Tamesna, and Tamanscourt. Since then it has built major projects in Fez (Joy City I and II), Meknes (Riads Al Ysmailya), Casablanca, Marakech, Rabat, Tangiers (Riad Sophia), and Agadir of its major projects presently is Martile et Tetouan along the Mediterranean coast—“along the best coastal area in Morocco.

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