Housing access differs sharply between Nouakchott, other urban areas, rural communities and oases. Family housing and self-construction are dominant pathways; an estimated 60% of households had self-built housing in the 2020 UN-Habitat baseline. Other routes include purchasing a completed house or apartment, renting, obtaining a serviced residential plot (parcelle viabilisée), receiving social housing (logement social), and using accommodation provided by an employer or the state. The 2023 national census recorded approximately 77% owner-occupied housing, 14.5% rented housing, 0.4% state-provided housing, 0.4% employer-provided housing, 2.9% housing provided free of charge, 2.5% Gazra housing and 2.2% other arrangements. In that census, owner status meant that a member of the household owned the dwelling; it did not automatically establish a registered titre foncier. Informal occupation therefore carries a different level of security from documented ownership. The main public bodies are the Ministère de l’Habitat, de l’Urbanisme et de l’Aménagement du Territoire, communes, the Wali, Moughataa offices, the Direction des Domaines, the Cadastre and the Conservation foncière. El Mouritaniya Lil Agharat (EMLA) sells residential plots. ISKAN handles state land development, housing development and property administration. State planning is also connected with the Plan National d’Aménagement du Territoire and the Programme National de l’Habitat. Formal land rights commonly progress from a permis d’occuper to a cession définitive and then a titre foncier. A permis d’occuper is an administrative occupancy document, not the same as a registered land title. Its application normally includes the attribution letter, payment receipts and an identity document, and is submitted through the Moughataa for processing by the land authorities and Cadastre. The listed charges include 10 T and a 50 MRU stamp. A cession définitive requires an application, a copy of the permis d’occuper, a site plan and identification; the listed stamp is 20 MRU. Depending on the land area and zone, approval may involve the Minister responsible for Economy and Finance, the Council of Ministers or the Wali. Creating a titre foncier after the cession définitive requires the cession order, the original occupancy permit, identification, a copy of the permit and an attestation of tax regularity. The listed charges include 50 MRU per page, 2% of the land price and a 28 MRU calque charge. A private request for state residential land generally requires an application and a copy of the national identity document. The application enters through the Moughataa and is examined by the Direction des Domaines or its land-affairs service together with the Cadastre. A request exceeding 1,000 square metres goes to the Council of Ministers. Processing time is not fixed. In 2026, demand for EMLA residential plots in Tevragh-Zeina and Teyarett was high and applications were temporarily suspended. Gazra refers to informal or illegal land occupation, while Kebbe describes an informal settlement associated with poverty and spontaneous urbanisation. Neither provides the security of a titre foncier. Regularisation or relocation may result from a public programme, but it is not a guaranteed individual right merely because a household occupies land. Women can legally own property, although customary practices, missing titles and dependence on relatives or community arrangements can make access to documented rural and oasis land more difficult. Construction, major renovation and extensions in a serviced urban area or an approved lotissement require a building permit under the current urban-planning and construction framework, including Law 2025-012. The application normally includes a permis d’occuper or titre foncier, a site plan, a three-dimensional massing plan, a construction description and an architectural project. A ground-floor-plus-one-storey project also requires a structural study. The application is submitted to the commune, reviewed by the Direction des opérations urbaines and issued through the Wali. Municipal fees apply, while the official processing period is not fixed. Residential renting is governed by the official text of Law 67-119 of 5 June 1967, which excludes hotels and boarding houses. The law sets the rent ceiling at 14% of the annual property value and limits the monthly rent to no more than one twelfth of the annual rent. The deposit and advance rent together may not exceed two months. A tenant who occupies in good faith under a written or oral lease and fulfils the rental obligations may claim continued occupation in the situations covered by the law. A landlord seeking personal use generally gives three months’ notice by registered letter; use by the entitled person should begin within two months and continue for at least two years. Repossession for construction or reconstruction also requires three months’ notice and construction should begin within three months. Current application to every modern contract, deposit-return practice and notice arrangement should be confirmed for the specific tenancy. BNM and BMCI offer housing finance for purchasing, building or renovating property, subject to income, employment, account history, guarantees and title or occupancy documents. BNM requests can include an employment contract, salary domiciliation, six months of account statements and a bank guarantee. BMCI also offers an immobilier product, including a product for salaries above 50,000 MRU. Mauritanians living abroad can use an MRE housing product with a savings plan of at least three years, financing of 60%, savings of 40% and repayment of up to twelve years. No universal state housing loan or guaranteed mortgage eligibility follows from these products. Housing quality depends heavily on access to water, electricity, roads, sanitation, drainage and waste collection. National planning findings call for additional rural water points, wider urban networks in peripheral neighbourhoods, stronger sanitation and waste measures, and rural electrification. Local rent, purchase prices, service costs and processing times vary and should be confirmed directly with the responsible authority, landlord, bank or service provider.
Housing in Mauritania
Housing in Mauritania is obtained mainly through family or self-built homes, while renting, buying completed homes, serviced plots, social housing and employer or state accommodation provide other routes. The 2023 census recorded about 77% of households as owners and 14.5% as tenants, but owner status does not by itself prove a registered land title. Formal land security commonly develops through an occupancy permit (permis d’occuper), cession définitive and then a registered land title (titre foncier). Gazra, a term for informal or illegal land occupation, and Kebbe, an informal poor settlement pattern, do not create equivalent ownership rights.
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