Parliamentarian Marwa El Ansari, from the Istiqlalien group, expressed her indignation at this situation, denouncing the greed of certain developers who sell these small apartments, which she calls “boxes of matches”, at high prices. , which makes these housing inaccessible to families with limited and middle incomes. The direct housing assistance program is dedicated to this category, reacted Fatima Zahra Mansouri, the Minister of Territorial Planning, Housing and Urban Planning, indicating that her department signed an agreement with the Chamber notaries to reduce procedural costs and facilitate the process of acquiring housing for citizens.
Read: Morocco: housing assistance boosts the real estate market
According to the minister, the program is a great success. This is evidenced by the number of requests, which has been around 3,500 per month in recent months, while the monthly average was barely 2,500 at the start of the year. Thanks to the direct housing assistance program, the number of authorized projects increased by 14%, cement sales by 8.24%, real estate transactions by 12.1%, housing loans by 1.49%, and the credits allocated to real estate developers of 5.57%, said the member of the government, stressing that in view of these figures, the program has boosted the construction sector and brought a breath of fresh air to small and medium-sized businesses which achieved nearly 87% housing.
To read: Housing aid in Morocco: conditions and terms of granting
For some parliamentarians, the program is far from meeting expectations, in this context of rising prices. “The aid is granted to citizens, but it is absorbed by the developers,” denounces El Ansari, noting that certain apartments of less than 50 square meters are sold at 450,000 dirhams, an exaggerated increase which reduces the effect of the help. On this subject, the minister explained that the market is subject to the law of supply and demand and that the government cannot set a ceiling on prices. MEPs called on the government to regulate apartment prices and ensure that aid leads to an increase in demand without affecting prices.
