Construction & Real Estate

The Moroccan construction sector witnessed a significant slowdown in 2013 due to a confluence of factors, including regional instability and a shortage of access to financing. Cement consumption, which is considered a key performance indicator, dropped from 15.87m tonnes in 2012 to 14.87m tonnes in 2013. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Habitat and Urban Planning continued to help drive sector activity and provided strong financial incentives to real estate developers to invest in social housing. The sector is expected to rebound in the medium term, with growth of 4% projected. In the longer run, it should see an uptick in growth as European economies begin to improve. Activity in the real estate sector has fallen, but stabilised, following an earlier boom between 2007 and 2008. In 2013, the sector remained stagnant, growing by 0.4% y-o-y by the third quarter, with transaction volumes down by 5.3%. The sector has been buoyed by a government-sponsored incentives aimed at attracting real estate developers and builders to the mid-range segment, where there is a housing deficit. The luxury segment has witnessed a sharp fall in demand and developers have refocused their activity away from rural areas and smaller towns and towards bigger cities. Prices are expected to remain stable for the luxury segment, while mid-range property is likely to see prices increase in 2014. In 2014, activity will be driven by a number of major mixed-use projects in Casablanca and Tangiers. This chapter contains interviews with David Toledano, President, Federation of Construction Materials Industries (FMC), and Youssef Ibn Mansour, President, National Federation of Real Estate Developers (FNPI).