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IV

Weekly highlights

Real estate
The price of materials disrupts the market

Apartments of 100 square meters now cost up to 80,000 more Dirhams to be built
H OW the real estate market a situation, a deafening silence from

the line ministry is to be observed.
works continues to be a
mystery to analysts. Corre-
lation of prices and demand, adapta- Professionals are indeed proposing,
in view of the economic situation,
tion of supply to the economic situa- a postponement of the deadlines for
tion… Today it is the “input” factor the delivery of low-income housing,
which accentuates an activity that has in order to enable operators to free
experienced little-known stagnation up liquidity, as well as a reduction
over the past 20 years. According to in registration fees and those rela-
the various banking institutions sur- ting to registration with the Land
veyed by L’Economiste, applications Registry agency. Some people wit-
for real estate development loans hin the Federation even “have suspi-
have fallen by almost 100%, on the cions that some unlawful price-fixing
other hand, applications for building agreements exist among suppliers, in
market authorization have fallen by particular cement manufacturers”.
40%. Suffice to say that the current The Competition Council has indeed
situation is serious for the industry. heard certain real estate developers,
“It should be noted that this vertigi- meter to 200 MAD for the same From a statistical point of view, this following a complaint filed by the
nous rise in the price of raw materials order of magnitude. PVC tubing for is confirmed. Indeed, according to the FNPI. Their purpose is to initiate a
is not only attributable to the conflict piping and copper for electricity also latest bulletin from the central bank procedure leading to sanctions for
in Ukraine”, explains Anis Benjel- increased by 50%. (Bank Al-Maghrib) and the Land anti-competitive practices. Prices ha-
loun, vice-president of the National Not to mention cement and ready- Title Agency (Conservation Fon- ving increased gradually and simul-
Federation of Real Estate Developers mixed concrete which reached 880 cière), in the first quarter of 2022, the taneously among all operators who
(FNPI). According to him, a signifi- MAD/Ton versus 720 MAD pre- Real Estate Asset Price Index (IPAI) come upstream of the construction
cant increase was felt from mid-2021, viously. These increases, combined, recorded a quarterly drop of 0.3%, process. However, given the beha-
reaching stratospheric levels. Thus, mean that a dwelling of 100 square an increase in line with the decrease vior of the real estate market, some
the price of concrete reinforcing bars meters costs 50,000 to 80,000 more in residential prices by 0.3% and people cast the same suspicions
(rebars) increased from 6,200 MAD/ Dirhams to be built As far as low goods for professional use by 2.5%. on the real estate developers them-
Ton to 14,000 MAD, an increase of income housing is concerned, it costs On the other hand, land prices sta- selves. A hypothesis ruled out by the
200%, and the red brick also expe- now 20 to 25,000 more Dirhams to gnated. At the same time, the number FNPI. Anis Benjelloun assuring that
rienced an increase in its value (1.10 be built. According to the FNPI, the of transactions fell by 10.5%, with “more than 1,000 operators cannot
to 2 MAD per unit). Red wood, operators have not passed on these a decrease of 9.8% for residential practice unlawful price-fixing agree-
which was 52 MAD per linear meter, prices to the end consumer, because, transactions, 11.2% for land-related ments”. o
is now worth 220. Moreover, glass according to Anis Benjelloun, “pur- transactions, and 13.5% for goods for Abdessamad NAIMI
has gone from 40 MAD per square chasing power cannot follow suit”. professional use. In the face of such
Friday 15 July 2022