Spotlight on the Moroccan property market

Here are some tips to help you consider making a Moroccan property buy.

Why buy in Morocco?
Investing in property in Morocco is currently backed by recent substantial policy and financial support from the Moroccan government to make tourism a major priority. These efforts have been rewarded with large increases in tourist visitors. At the end of 2006, 6.5 million foreign visitors had visited Morocco in the year – a healthy increase on the figure of 5.8 million reached in 2005.

The Moroccan government is aiming to:

• develop 6 coastal tourist zones. 5 are planned for the Atlantic coast and 1 for the Mediterranean coast
• renovate regional airports to increase cheap, international flights to Morocco
• increase flight numbers across the country and
• build a high-speed train service, initially linking Tangier to Marrakesh within just 2.5 hours.

Benefits of a Moroccan home buy:

• property prices, at time of writing, can be as much as 50% cheaper than equivalent European buys
• full freehold ownership rights are offered to foreign buyers
• as an overseas buyer, you don’t have to pay tax on rental income for the first 5 years
• capital gains tax is charged at 20% of profit with at least 3 per cent of property sale price if the home is sold within 5 years. This goes down to 10% if sold between 5-10 years and reduces to 0% after 10 years and
• inheritance tax does not apply to family members. That said, you do have to get a legally recognised Moroccan will and you need to take tax advice.

Easier Moroccan property buying
It’s a lot simpler than it was 5 years ago to buy property in Morocco as national government has simplified holiday home purchases. In 2007, Marrakesh government agencies started registering older properties with the Moroccan land registry – thus reducing ownership issues associated with overseas property buys.