Morocco Property Podcast with Paul Staines

In Nubricks Overseas Property Podcast 22, the first podcast for 2007, Adam Samuel is joined by Paul Staines, the Director of Saffron Villas, the Morrocan Property specialist. Paul reveals his own Moroccan investments and gives his tips on which projects to watch for in 2007.

Paul explains that in 2001 Morocco’s new King Mohammed VI announced the ‘Azure Plan and Vision 2010’ which intends to increase the tourist numbers into the country from 2 million to 10 million within 10 years.

Paul states that the average property price currently for new properties that Saffron Villas promotes is £100,000 to £125,000, however the market caters for the £50,000 budget as well as luxury multi-million pound properties. There are a variety of types of property available in the Azure Plan including apartments and villas. If you wanted an original property outside of the Azure Plan then riad’s are available in the historical medinas, however they come complete with problematic title deeds!

Buying a new build property in Morocco is straight forward and similar to European countries. Mortgages are easy to get hold of subject to status, loans of up to 70% are very common and interest rates range from 5.5% to 6.5%. We also discussed the taxes for buying and selling property in Morocco.

So what about the future of Morocco? Paul offered the following hot tips… Marrakesh is gaining in popularity and will see an increase in property development to satisfy demand. This city is a fabulous mix of the traditional and modern; it retains its charm, has skiing 1 hour 30 minutes away, currently has 3 golf courses and 7 more have recently received planning permission.

The Taghazout resort will be available for purchase options later in 2007, which is set to be extremely popular. It is located in the Agadir region where there are stretches of clean, clear coast meeting the Atlantic Ocean, perfect for water sports enthusiasts.

The podcast has been removed as it is now out of date.