Who buy in Marrakech ?

Results of an investigation

They are 50 years old on average and are still working. Riad or apartment: a long-term purchase

In Marrakech, half of the real goods is bought by foreigners. This is what a study undertaken last April by Driss Effina reveals, doctoring at the University Mohammed-V (Rabat). Very few data are however available on these purchasers. Who are they? Why do they invest in Morocco? Are they always active or retired? As many questions which Effina sought to answer via its investigation.

The investigation was carried out on the basis of sample made up of 600 purchasers, 200 real estate agencies and 21 notaries of the area. The questions were put directly within the context of interviews, person to person.

Who are they?

 No surprise with regard to their origin, since 84% arrive to from European Union countries. The French represent a good half (53, 7%), the Italians 7% and the British 6%. According to the investigation of Effina, the Gulf citizen would be located in second position (9, 3%), and the Americans (Canada and the United States), in the third (6, 9%).

A little more than one purchaser in two (55%) is married. Most of the time, the first bond woven with Morocco relates to work (46, 5%). Projecting facts: more than 60% of the surveyed population became permanent resident, and two thirds work in the Moroccan ground. It is thus not astonishing that 72% of the new owners make of their Moroccan residence their main home, and that 67, 5% of them affirm to settle in the long term.

The foreign purchasers seem, always according to the work of Effina, to have discovered the marrakchi market in the middle of the years 1990. The sales intensified until 2000. The product-headlight of the ochre city was, obviously, the riad. Following massive acquisitions, it started to miss. The prices flamed and the market was somewhat paralysed. For proof, the average amount of the transactions was located at 1, 2 million DH before 2002. Then, it climbed up to 2, 32 million, to stabilize itself around 1, 45 million after 2003. Any way, the three quarters of the purchasers consider the prices enough or too high.

With stronger reason the average Marrakchi citizen is in search of housing, but the author of the study does not lean on this aspect. "Paris, London or Madrid knew the same boom. Today, these cities are not denatured and they belong to the whole world ", supports the researcher.

Currently, it is rather on the apartments that the foreigners seem to have thrown their devolved (37, 5%). A greater availability of this type of dwelling thus causes a new increase of the market. According to Effina, the introduction of the single counter and the creation of the Regional Centre of Investment (CRI) also start to bear fruit, by facilitating the administrative procedures. According to the researcher, the year 2007 could generate between 6 and 8 billion DH of transactions in the real estate in Marrakech, against 4 billion in 2006.

What surprises, however, is that the crushing majority of the purchasers (84, 3%) use their own capital stocks, and do not borrow practically anything from the local banks. Two foreigners in three (66, 4%) deal with real estate agencies to carry out their purchase. This would partly explain the presence of 215 real estate agencies only in the town of Marrakech, according to data's advanced by Effina.

In parallel of the investigation, it was interested in the web sites which present information on the real estate of the city. The result is at the very least surprising: 2, 2 million proposes acquisition appropriateness’s. «The problem, it is that they are seldom updated. The information on the procedures or the taxation is very incomplete ", testifies the researcher

Exactly under sun

The climate. The foreigners adore the Moroccan sun there is no doubt. It is for it that 84, 7% made of Morocco their second home. The proximity of Europe is, we have guessed it, often evoked in the chapter of the "advantages" which the country (75, 4%) has. Work and opportunities arrive in the third rank (54, 2%), follows the living cost (52, 5%) and the political stability (43, 2%).

On the other hand, on the side of the disadvantages and obstacles, it is once again the administration which obtains the "golden palm". Heaviness and slowness of the system are on the dock. The foreigners also denounce the problems of corruption which still prevail in the country. The lack of a qualified working hand also appears on the list of their concerns. "It was said; more than a half come to Morocco for work and businesses opportunities. If they do not find adequate working hand here, they will seek it elsewhere, supports Effina, it is necessary to react quickly"

Which turn is?