The house is a riad, a traditional Moorish residence with living spaces organised around a two-story courtyard. Rooms stay cool, because “often, they don’t have windows facing out,” said Younes Cherkaoui, the co-manager of Mauresque Immobilier, the company selling this property.

Past the entryway is a double-height living room, topped by a windowed dome decorated with a Moorish star. Cherkaoui said that usually this part of a riad has no ceiling and functions as a courtyard, though this owner chose to cover it.

The house is sold fully furnished (except for artwork and a piano). A low table in the centre of the living room, originally a door, was purchased by the present owner at a market in the Atlas Mountains. Almost all the furniture was collected by the owner while exploring Morocco over the past 10 years, or made by local artisans.

Off the living room are two narrower sitting rooms, a bathroom and an office. The fountain in the entryway is panelled with zellige, north African tilework that uses mosaics made of enamel chips.

The columns of a balcony on the second level are panelled with hand-carved tiles. The balcony overlooks the living room. The kitchen is on the second floor. So are two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, each with windows overlooking the courtyard. Upstairs from the second-floor balcony is a roof deck with two enclosed rooms — a laundry area and a painting studio — and outdoor views. of neighbouring terraces.

Marrakesh’s medina — its walled city — has been the city’s cultural, economic and political center since it was founded nearly a millennium ago. It is home to the city’s busiest souks (commercial corridors) and most prominent historical sites, among them the Koutoubia Mosque, with its 221-foot-tall minaret, and the Jardin Majorelle, a botanical garden and Islamic art museum.

This riad is in a cul-de-sac in an area called Riad Zitoun Jdid, a centrally located residential area within walking distance of the medina’s restaurants, shops and sights.

The Marrakesh-Menara Airport is about six kilometers from the medina; London is a three-and-a-half-hour flight.

Market overview

The real estate market in Morocco is hard to track, according to Julian Cunningham, an associate at Knight Frank in London. But he said that home prices rose 35 to 40 per cent in the five years leading up to 2008. Since then, over the past 10 months, prices have dropped 20 to 25 per cent.

Robert Shaw, an agent with Elite Morocco Properties, describes the buyers in Morocco as historically “adventurous”, but says the market has become more mainstream in the past several years. The biggest factor, according to Karim Beqqali, MD of the real estate company CB Richard Ellis, is a 2005 open-flight agreement with the European Union, which led more airlines to schedule flights to Morocco at lower costs. “A few years ago,” he said, “you would’ve paid 200 or 300 euros to fly here from Europe.”

Cunningham added that the country’s “Vision 2010” programme — a 2001 Moroccan government tourism initiative — had brought more visitors to the country. So, although still emerging as an economy, and despite the downturn, Morocco has a much better developed housing market than a decade ago. “While other countries are correcting,” Shaw said, “Morocco is just stabilising.”

The average price for a renovated riad in the medina ranges from $440,000 to $520,000. depending on size and location.

Buying basics

In general, most riad transactions are cash only, according to Shaw. He also noted the importance of tracking ownership titles. “Titles can go way back through family trees,” he said. Usually a listing agent will refer the prospective buyer to an appropriate lawyer, and the lawyer will coordinate with a local notary who will track ownership titles, according to Macarena Rein-Loring, a lawyer for the Legalex Group.

A buyer should estimate 6.5 to 7 per cent of the purchase price for various fees, including 1 to 1.5 per cent in legal fees, 2.5 per cent in land registration fees, 1 per cent for a one-time registry tax, half a per cent for a notary’s tax and around 1 per cent for a notary’s fee.

Who buys

Fifty per cent of buyers in Marrakesh are foreigners, according to Beqqali, and they are mostly from UK and France. The market is attractive to the French, according to Cunningham, because French is spoken in Morocco and the Moroccan and French legal systems are similar. In addition, there are tax treaties between the countries. The British are drawn by the direct flights, the easy one-hour time difference and the winter sun, he added.

Taxes & other info

Taxes on the property are 3,000 dirhams a year. 1 dirham is $0.13. Arabic and French languages are commonly used.

International Herald Tribune