Time for Morocco to Shine

09 Sep 2009

As Northern Europe returns to work after the summer holidays it’s not just the memories of lazy days on the beach that are encouraging a renewed sense of confidence and optimism to spread. The signs are that the major Euro economies (except Spain) are gradually climbing out of recession and the fabled “green shoots” of recovery are now growing into something more concrete. So what does this mean for Moroccan property buyers? A recent poll of visitors to the Moroccan Sands website showed that nearly 60% of people thought that now, or in the next few months, was the ideal time to buy property in Morocco. Michael Kent, Managing Director of Moroccan Sands commented, “I’d tend to concur with the results of the poll. If you have money available to put down against a property there are definitely good deals to be had. Most Moroccan developers have stock they are keen to shift and are offering a range of inducements and discounts but I only expect this situation to last a couple of months until some of the backlog has cleared. Furthermore the credit crunch may have been beneficial to people who had already purchased Moroccan property as with no new projects launched over the last year there is not the risk of over saturation that can be seen in markets such as Egypt and Turkey.” All the evidence points to Morocco being ideally situated to recover quickly as investment and tourism numbers have kept growing in the downturn. Visitors to Morocco were up 8% y-o-y with the key French and Spanish markets up 8% and 14% respectively. Several market leading hotel chains, such as Radisson and Anantara Resorts, announcing major new projects whilst infrastructure improvements, such as the new runway and terminal at Oujda coming on line early next year. And if you want more evidence of the enduring popularity and attraction of Morocco then the decision by the makers of the new Sex in the City movie to film in Morocco will surely be encouraging.