March 2015
Casablanca City Report
Morocco
2
Casablanca City Report
March 2015
Casablanca is the main economic centre of
Morocco and a favoured location for
international corporations. It has also
emerged as one of Africa's major
commercial hubs and, in becoming the
largest port in North Africa, has developed
important trading functions.
City Population
3.5 million
GDP Growth
4.3% pa
Economic Size
US$ 41 billion
Market Overview
Casablanca has witnessed increased delivery of new office
buildings that meet the exacting requirements of international
occupiers. Occupier confidence is showing signs of improvement
with a number of corporate tenants now actively considering
relocation to prime buildings.
Real Estate Dashboard
Development Activity
Outlook
Offices
Casablanca is experiencing a notable
increase in development activity; in
particular, a number of new office
buildings were delivered at La Marina
in 2014. There are also significant
development plans at Casa Anfa, a
mixed-use project which will host the
new Casablanca Finance City (CFC).
The scheme will be developed in
phases and is expected to substantially
increase the city’s office stock, catering
to financial services, professional
services and regional and international
headquarters. Initial deliveries are not
expected until 2017/2018.
Although development activity
is ongoing and will raise stock
levels, corporate occupiers
currently seeking high-quality
office space still have limited
relocation options (La Marina,
Anfa Place, the CBD).
The lack of modern office
space is expected to drive
rental growth over 2015.
1.3 million m2 total stock
272 US$/m2/pa average
prime rent
Hotels
10 international-grade hotels
100 US$ average room rate
Industrial
620,000m2 total stock
60-80 US$/m2/pa prime rent
Demographic and economic data
refers to 2015 values/estimates
Real estate data refers to Q1 2015
values/estimates
JLL Property Clock
Notable recent events
Rental
growth
slowing
Rental
growth
accelerating
Offices
Rents
falling
Hotels
Rents
bottoming
out
Industrial
The JLL Property ClocksSM
Anfa Place Shopping Centre
(30,000m2) sold to Delta
International Property
Holdings Limited (2014).
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Casablanca City Report
March 2015
$
Offices
Office stock
1.3 million m
2
Vacancy rate
5-10%
Rent
US$ 272/m /pa
Overview
The number of office market transactions continues to be limited due to the
shortage of modern building stock. However, with the delivery of several
high-quality developments (Contempo by Amundi, La Marina, Anfa Place),
an essential stimulus is expected to be given to market dynamics. The increasing
number of office buildings within La Marina being developed by local and
foreign investors is clear evidence of the current appetite for investing in
international-standard office space.
Demand
Supply
Rental Performance
Corporate occupiers still have
limited location options in the city.
The CBD remains the most
attractive district given its
strategic location and continues
to be popular with the finance and
business services industries. The
majority of prime office space is
concentrated within the CBD,
Casa Anfa and La Corniche.
Take-up by corporate occupiers
and large Moroccan companies,
such as Mastercard,
CasaAmenagement, Samir,
Mitsui, Sage and Phillips, has
been behind the reduced volume
of available stock.
The market witnessed the
delivery of new office space
(namely La Marina) in 2014.
The Casablanca Finance City
(CFC) is a 100 hectare
development located at the
central axis of Casablanca's
new city centre with the
ambition of introducing
international-grade stock for
large national and global
institutions. While deliveries are
not anticipated until 2017/2018,
the planned development is
expected to substantially
expand the current office stock
in the future.
The final quarter of 2014 saw an
increase in prime office rents at
La Marina, which remains the
largest office hub in the country’s
economic capital, and the
preferred option for international
and corporate occupiers. Other
office areas, such as the central
CBD, Sidi Maarouf and Ain Sebaa,
have seen rents unchanged.
Incentives have also begun to drift
inwards, with rent-free periods
reducing to a maximum of two
months from the previous
three-four months. Yields are
estimated to be between 8% to
11%, while prime yields range
from 8% to 10%.
Recent Completions
Pipeline
Key Deals
La Marina
4,261m²
La Marina
30,000m2
La Marina
2,000m²
Anfa Place
2,500m2
Sale of one of the two office
buildings in Anfa Place to
British American Tobacco
acting as an occupier/investor.
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Rental outlook
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Casablanca City Report
March 2015
Key Sector Nodes
Contact us
JLL Morocco:
13, rue Ibnou Toufail
Quartier Palmiers
20 340 Casablanca
Morocco
www.africa.jll.com
Fabrice Leger
Managing Director
Tel +212 (50) 20 44 77 04
[email protected]
JLL Sub-Saharan African:
Mark Bradford
Chairman: Sub-Saharan Africa
Tel +27 (0) 81 018 0265
[email protected]
Aashna Puri
Africa Desk
Tel +27 11 507 2200
[email protected]
COPYRIGHT © JONES LANG LASALLE IP, INC. 2015.
This report has been prepared solely for information purposes and does not necessarily purport to be a complete analysis of
the topics discussed, which are inherently unpredictable. It has been based on sources we believe to be reliable, but we
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