At least 73,711 applications have been submitted for the direct housing assistance program, according to Minister Delegate in Charge of Relations with Parliament and government spokesperson, Mustapha Baitas, on Thursday. Of those approved, 43% are women and 23% are Moroccans residing abroad. Baitas added that 11,749 people have already benefited from the program. He also specified that 57% of the applications concern housing costing between 300,000 and 700,000 dirhams, and that almost all applications (90%) meet the program's requirements. Regarding the regional distribution of beneficiaries, the Fes-Meknes region leads the way with 35.9% of approved applications, followed by Casablanca-Settat (34.54%), the Oriental region (6.5%), and Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima (around 4%). Furthermore, Baitas indicated that the program has positively impacted the construction sector. Cement consumption increased by 21.11% between April 2023 and April 2024. Housing loans have also seen a rise of 1.4% between March 2023 and March 2024. Loans intended for real estate developers have increased by 4.2% over the same period.
