MOROCCO Law and Practice Contributed by: Loris Marghieri, Dounia El Aissaoui and Julien Nouchi, Gide Loyrette Nouel
• the index of real estate asset prices increased by 0.6% compared to 2022 – this increase is due to a 1.5% rise in land prices and a 1.8% rise in commercial property prices; • residential property prices, on the other hand, are virtually stagnant; and • in 2023, the volume of sales increased by 5.1%, driven by increases of 6.3% in resi - dential property sales, 5.8% in commercial property sales and 0.3% in land sales. In addition, 2023 was another banner year for tourism in Morocco, with 14.5 million arrivals, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Handi - crafts. This represents an increase of 34% com - pared to 2022. Morocco has also witnessed a large number of transactions in 2023, notably in infrastructure (41 billion dirhams invested in 2023) and offices (construction of a 2,000 sq m office complex in the Casablanca Finance City business district). However, the construction sector is suffering from the rising price of building materials and inflation, which are hampering households’ access to housing. Finally, it is worth noting that the Ministry of Economy reported in March 2024 that a num - ber of programmes and projects have been approved and/or launched to further support the recovery of the construction sector, including: • major infrastructure projects related to Morocco’s hosting of the African Cup of Nations in 2025 and joint hosing of the World Cup in 2030; • the programme for the reconstruction and development of areas damaged by the Al Haouz earthquake; and
• the direct assistance programme for the purchase of a primary residence, which was
launched in January 2024. 1.3 Proposals for Reform
Please see the website of the Ministry of Nation - al Territorial Planning, Housing and Urban Policy for details of upcoming legislative reform. Some key proposals include: • a law regulating the profession of the real estate broker expected to be adopted in 2024; • a draft law on new towns that aims to pro - mote the production and supply of housing and to regulate the procedures for approving and creating new towns; • draft Law No 023-12 on housing co-oper - atives that aims to promote solidarity and participatory housing, in particular by encour - aging the creation of housing co-operatives (ie, companies that manage housing for homeowners); and • a draft law on the organisation of construction operations that aims to organise construc - tion work by regulating the quality of building materials and techniques, identifying all par - ties involved, defining their tasks detailing the conditions under which construction sites are managed.
2. Sale and Purchase 2.1 Categories of Property Rights Land Tenure
The Moroccan legal framework applicable to property rights remains complex, mainly due to the variety of legal regimes governing lands and the co-existence of unregistered and registered property.
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