Mortgage in Morocco: What a Foreigner Can Borrow in 2026

Yes, a buyer who lives outside the country can take out a mortgage in Morocco. The law lets local banks lend up to 80% of the purchase price, provided the rest arrives as money transferred from abroad.

That settles the first question most international buyers ask. The more useful one comes next: what does borrowing in the local currency commit you to, from the first transfer to the day you sell?

This article covers financing only: the legal ceiling, how a bank decides, where rates stand, the options for Moroccans living abroad and for Sharia-compliant finance, and how a loan changes the money you can take home on resale. For ownership rules, completion and closing costs, see our guide to buying property in Morocco as a foreigner.

Can foreigners get a mortgage in Morocco?

Yes. The country’s foreign-exchange regulator, the Office des Changes, allows banks to grant a real estate loan in dirham to a foreign individual living abroad, to buy or build a home, up to 80% of the price. The balance has to be paid with funds brought in from abroad.

The rule is set out in the regulator’s General Instruction on foreign-exchange operations, the text that governs how money moves in and out of the country.

There is one condition that surprises people. Before lending, the bank must obtain a sworn statement that the borrower owns no residence in the country. In practice, this route finances one home, not a second Moroccan property bought alongside one you already own.

Residency itself is not a requirement. These rules are written for non-resident buyers, so living abroad is the starting assumption, not an obstacle.

The 80% figure is a ceiling, not an offer. Each bank applies its own criteria within it, and mortgages to foreigners who live abroad are generally granted on stricter terms than buyers are used to in Europe. Some agencies quote a lower “real” loan-to-value for buyers from abroad, but those figures trace to no published source. The only firm number is the legal one.

How a Moroccan mortgage works for a non-resident: accounts and money flows

Borrowing locally while living abroad means your money moves through specific accounts, and each one matters later. Under the Office des Changes’ rules on convertible-dirham accounts, a foreign individual living abroad can hold an account credited with transfers of foreign currency and used for payments inside the country.

The loan itself does not land in that account. The Office des Changes Instruction requires a Moroccan bank to pay it into a special dirham account that cannot be used for any transfer abroad. Each repayment, covering capital, interest and fees, must also be funded with money from abroad.

The arithmetic follows from there. Because the bank can lend at most 80% of the property value, at least 20% of the price arrives as foreign currency, plus the purchase costs. The Office des Changes also requires the fees and taxes on a property bought in foreign currency to be paid from repatriated currency.

One habit pays off years later. Keep the bank confirmation for every transfer you send into the country. It proves where the money came from, and when you sell, it decides how much of the price can leave again.

What a Moroccan bank looks at before it says yes

Within the legal ceiling, the lender decides. There is no typical mortgage for a buyer living abroad, and every mortgage application is assessed on the bank’s own policy.

Published examples are rare. One of the clearest is Bank of Africa’s Salaf Dari home loan, as published on the bank’s website. It is designed for Moroccans living abroad, and criteria for foreign nationals are generally tighter, but it shows what a lender weighs.

• Who can apply. Eligibility extends to employees, the self-employed, business owners and retirees.
• Debt load. Total debt service is capped at 40% of net income, so the loan is sized to a stable income rather than to the property.
• Age. You must be 70 or younger when the loan ends.
• Loan term. Up to 27 years.
• Pricing. A fixed or variable rate.

These are one bank’s mortgage conditions for one product, not a market standard. Other lenders publish less, and their answer depends on the file in front of them.

The process carries protections of its own. Bank Al-Maghrib’s customer-protection rules require clear information on the product and a prior written offer, followed by a reflection period before you commit. Use that period to read the offer against the other routes set out further down.

Mortgage rates in Morocco in 2026

There is one authoritative benchmark for what home loans cost. Bank Al-Maghrib, the central bank, surveys lenders every quarter, and its lending-rate survey put the average mortgage lending rate at 5.06% in the second quarter, down from 5.13% in the first.

That figure is an average across all home loans granted, not a quote for someone living abroad. Individual offers depend on the bank and the file. Several property sites publish precise ranges for anyone buying from abroad without saying where they come from; when people ask about mortgage interest rates in Morocco, the central bank’s survey is the only published answer.

Behind it sits the policy interest rate. According to Bank Al-Maghrib’s monetary policy decisions, the key rate came down from 3.00% in March 2024, in steps, to 2.25% on 20 March 2025. As reported by Morocco World News, the central bank held it at 2.25% again on 22 September, with inflation forecast at 0.7% for the year.

Compare offers on the TEG, the overall effective rate that banks must disclose under Bank Al-Maghrib’s customer-protection rules, rather than on the headline interest rate. The TEG reflects the full cost of the loan. If a dispute arises, it can go to the Moroccan Centre for Banking Mediation.

Banks price both ways: some loans keep the same rate for the whole term, others move with the market. The choice decides who carries the risk of the key rate changing over a term that can run for decades.

Moroccans living abroad: what changed on 1 January 2026

For Moroccans residing abroad, known as MRE, the ceiling moved this year. According to the Office des Changes’ announcement of its new Instruction, from 1 January dirham home loans to MRE can cover up to 80% of the price, up from 70%, for any acquisition in the country, with no limit on the number of properties financed.

MRE are also exempt from the sworn statement of no other residence that applies to foreign nationals, under the Office des Changes Instruction. For someone who already owns a home in Morocco and wants another, whether a holiday house or a base for a future move back to Morocco, that exemption is the difference that matters.

A bank’s own product can go further through its structure. Bank of Africa’s Salaf Dari terms finance up to 85% of an acquisition, or 70% for land plus construction. Those are one bank’s published terms, not a rule.

MRE who have never used a state-guaranteed home loan can also look at the Damane Assakane guarantee, as offered by Bank of Africa, though it is built for a main residence rather than a luxury second home.

Sharia-compliant home finance: murabaha and ijara

Buyers from the Gulf and West Africa often ask whether halal home finance exists locally. It does. Participative banking is regulated by the central bank, and Bank Al-Maghrib’s Circular 1/W/17 on participative banks sets the technical features of products including murabaha, ijara and musharaka.

The two that matter for a home work differently:

• Murabaha. The bank buys the property and sells it to you at a disclosed margin, which you pay in instalments.
• Ijara. A lease-to-own structure: you pay to use the home, and ownership passes to you at the end.

Do not assume the 80% ceiling applies to participative products in exactly the same way as to a conventional loan. Ask the participative bank how the foreign-exchange rules apply to your file before you plan around a figure.

Selling later: what a loan does to the money you can take home

This is the part of borrowing that rarely comes up at the start. A home that a foreign buyer pays for in foreign currency keeps the right to transfer the sale proceeds abroad, under the Office des Changes’ rules on transferring investment income.

A loan changes that arithmetic. For a home financed with a dirham loan, the Office des Changes Instruction caps what can be paid out abroad on resale at three amounts added together:

1. the initial foreign-currency contribution;
2. principal repaid in foreign currency or from a convertible-dirham account;
3. any capital gain.

What that means in practice: every dirham of principal you repay from abroad adds to what you can take home; principal repaid from money earned inside the country does not. The transfer record kept from the first day is what proves which is which.

A hypothetical example makes the gap visible. Take a 10 million dirham villa bought with a 2 million deposit from abroad and an 8 million loan, then sold for 11 million after 3 million of principal has been repaid. The only difference between the two scenarios is where that principal came from.

Illustrative figures in Moroccan dirhams, ignoring taxes, costs and interest. Not a projection.

In both scenarios the seller clears the same 6 million once the remaining loan is paid off. In the first, all of it can leave. In the second, 2 million stays in the country, because that share of the principal was paid with money earned there.

Cash, a dirham loan or finance from home: structuring the property purchase

Is it better to buy property with cash or with a loan? It depends on the exit, the currency and what the capital would otherwise be doing. Four routes are open to an international buyer.

1. All cash in foreign currency. The simplest route. The full transfer right on resale is kept, and no local lender’s criteria apply.
2. A dirham loan of up to 80%. It keeps capital free for other uses, but the resale cap above applies, and terms for foreign nationals living abroad are tighter.
3. Participative finance. Murabaha or ijara, once the participative bank has confirmed how the foreign-exchange rules apply to your file.
4. Borrowing in your country of residence, for example by refinancing a property you already own there. Availability and terms are a matter for your home lender. The funds then arrive as foreign currency, which keeps the transfer right under the Office des Changes’ investment-income rules.

Which route fits depends on your own position, which is why it is worth taking the time to speak with an Originn adviser before structuring the purchase.

Currency is the part people underweight. A dirham loan is a dirham debt: if you earn in another currency, every instalment carries exchange risk. When sending large sums internationally, check the rate you are given against the mid-market exchange rate, because the spread is a cost of the purchase too.

Whichever route you choose, notary fees and the other taxes and fees of the purchase, including land registry charges, are set out in the buying guide linked at the top of this article.

How your country of residence taxes the property or its income is a question for an adviser there, including whether a double taxation treaty applies.

Leverage against cash is also an investment decision in its own right, covered in our piece on investing in luxury property in Morocco. And for buyers weighing a purchase here against property in Dubai, each market has its own financing rules.

Servicing the loan: rental income and the monthly payment

Many international owners let the property to help cover the monthly payment. Our note on buying to let in Marrakech covers that side of the decision.

The foreign-exchange rules shape how this works. For a foreign national living abroad, the Office des Changes Instruction requires loan payments to be funded from abroad. Rental income earned locally is part of your overall income picture, but under the resale rule above, principal repaid from money earned in the country does not add to what you can transfer out.

Before counting on rent, confirm with your bank how the monthly repayments must be funded. Treat letting income as support for the mortgage payments, not as a substitute for the funds your bank expects from abroad.

Running a home from another country is its own discipline, from guests to upkeep. Our approach is set out in rental management in Marrakech.

Before you sign: settling the structure first

If you are planning to buy, decide how the purchase is funded before an offer is made. The funding route decides the paper trail, how much of the price you can take home on resale, and the currency you owe in. Once an offer is signed, those choices are harder to revisit.

Take the structure to your own tax adviser and a property lawyer at the same stage, not after. Our role is advisory: we help clients think through how an acquisition is structured. We do not lend, and we do not arrange loans.

If you are weighing a mortgage in Morocco against the other ways to fund a purchase in Marrakech, begin a private conversation with our team before you make an offer.

What buyers ask before borrowing in Morocco

How much deposit do I need to buy property in Morocco?

Under the Office des Changes rules, a bank can lend a buyer living abroad at most 80% of the price, so the deposit is at least 20%, paid with funds from abroad. Purchase costs come on top. Each bank sets its own criteria within that ceiling, so a lender may ask for a larger contribution than the legal minimum.

How long can a mortgage be in Morocco?

Loan length is set bank by bank. As one published example, Bank of Africa’s Salaf Dari home loan for Moroccans living abroad runs for up to 27 years. For foreign nationals living abroad, each lender fixes its own maximum, so the term on offer is part of what you compare between banks.

What is the maximum age for a mortgage in Morocco?

Each bank sets its own limit. In Bank of Africa’s published Salaf Dari terms, the loan must end by the time you are 70. The age rule and the maximum term work together, so for an older buyer the age limit, not the product’s longest term, decides how long the loan can run.

Can I borrow in my country of residence to buy property in Morocco?

That depends on your home lender, which sets its own conditions for lending against assets you hold there. If you do borrow at home, the money reaches the country as foreign currency. Under the Office des Changes’ investment-income rules, a home paid for this way keeps its right to transfer the sale proceeds abroad.

Are fixed-rate mortgages available in Morocco?

Yes. A fixed-rate mortgage in Morocco is on offer alongside loans whose rate moves: Bank of Africa’s published Salaf Dari terms include both. Fixing the rate protects you if the key rate rises. Bank Al-Maghrib’s survey average of 5.06% gives a reference point when you compare offers on the TEG.