The historic area has long been the city’s most exclusive residential enclave, offering a choice of French colonial homes, traditional Moroccan villas or new builds with plenty of land
5 min
Offering a beguiling blend of rich history and cutting-edge modernity, the seaside neighbourhood of Anfa is where Casablanca’s most exclusive and luxurious residences are located.
The historic Moroccan neighbourhood still bears the original name of the port city, which was called Anfa from the time it was founded around the 10th century B.C., up until the 15th century, when its name changed to Casablanca.
“In the 7th century, Anfa was home to a fishing port. It then lost its influence until the period of the French Protectorate,” said Marc Leon, CEO of Christie’s Real Estate Morocco. The French ruled over Morocco from 1912 to 1956, after which Anfa “became one of the most emblematic districts of Casablanca due to its rich and fascinating history, its colonial and Art Deco architecture, its green spaces and the presence of the Royal Golf Anfa Mohammedia, as well as the royal residence,” he said.
The largest city in Morocco, Casablanca is the country’s economic and business capital, but the peaceful residential streets of Anfa offer respite from the hustle and bustle of big city life. The neighbourhood is set between the beachfront and the modern city centre and is known for its historic sites, its hundred-year-old racetrack and its nine-hole golf course. Together with the neighbourhoods of Racine and Gauthier, Anfa forms part of Casablanca’s “Golden Triangle,” offering a mixture of historic and modern homes, primarily villas set amid lush, spacious gardens.
Boundaries
The Anfa neighbourhood runs from the ocean to a small inland hill. It is bounded to the north by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east it extends as far as the city’s railway line and Avenue 2 Mars. To the south, it is bounded by Boulevard Al Qods, and to the west it encompasses the newly developed Casablanca Finance City, extending along the coastline as far as Madame Choual beach.
Price Range
Luxury properties in Anfa range in price from 17,000 Moroccan dirhams (US$1,705) per square meter to 35,000 dirhams per square meter, said Vanessa Bouskila, sales manager at Kensington Luxury Properties Casablanca. The larger the property, the lower the price per square meter, she added. Prices are primarily determined by the property’s location and its views, she said, with seafront properties commanding a premium.
“The most expensive villa currently on the market is listed at US$80 million,” she said, adding that the trophy properties in the neighbourhood were built by famous architects, such as the private Anfa villa designed by French icon Jean Nouvel or the circular Villa Camembert, which was designed in 1962 by German architect Wolfgang Ewerth. Properties with a famous former inhabitant are also in high demand, she said, citing Villa Bolloré, formerly owned by French industrialist Vincent Bolloré.
Housing Stock
Anfa offers a diverse selection of luxury residences, “a combination of old French colonial buildings, traditional Moroccan villas and new modern constructions on large plots of land, most of which have swimming pools,” Leon said. The neighbourhood is also famous for its experimental Art Deco and modernist villas, designed by prominent Moroccan and international architects.
Anfa is divided into four sections, according to Leon. The most exclusive and sought-after residential district is Anfa Supérieur.
“Located on a hill near the golf course, the royal residence and the homes of Moroccan notables, it is the most popular area and properties for resale are very rare and therefore very expensive,” he said. The district offers very high levels of privacy and security, he added. “There are no nearby commercial amenities. The area is only residential and isolated from the city. You will not find a single traffic light there.”
Another popular residential area is Anfa Inférieur, “a privileged district at the foot of the hill, delimited by Boulevard André Masset and Boulevard Kennedy,” he said. The neighbourhood also encompasses Anfa Raha, an extension of Anfa which was integrated around 15 years ago and offers properties with particularly large areas of land, starting at 2,000 square meters.
Residents who prefer a more modern milieu are most likely to be drawn to the former site of the city’s old airport, which has been reimagined as a business district called Casablanca Finance City, offering high-end contemporary apartments.
What Makes It Unique
With its easy access to both the seafront and the city centre, Anfa is ideally placed.
“The sea and the corniche with its attractions are a few hundred meters away on foot,” Bouskila said.
Alongside its uniquely leafy and calm residential streets—where residents can often be seen out for a jog—the neighbourhood offers plenty of green space, including the more than 100-acre Anfa Park, located in Casablanca Finance City, and the centrally located Arab League Park, with its stately row of fountains. The historic Hippodrome Casablanca Anfa was built in 1912, and horses still race along its sandy track.
Historic landmarks include El Hank Lighthouse, which offers spectacular views of the city and sea, Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in Africa, with space to host over 100,000 worshippers, Mohammed V Square—affectionately known as Pigeon Square in honour of its abundance of the birds—and Casablanca Cathedral, which was built in 1930 and today serves as a cultural centre hosting art exhibitions and events.
Luxury Amenities
“Anfa borders the Atlantic Ocean and the numerous restaurants and private clubs of the Corniche,” Leon said. “On the city side, multiple ultra-modern private medical clinics have been established, which attract local and international patients.” The area also offers some of the city’s finest luxury shopping opportunities, with a wide range of upmarket international brands available in Morocco Mall and the Anfaplace Mall.
“The most popular sport is golf,” Bouskila said. Royal Golf Anfa Mohammedia is popular not only for its rolling greens but also for its restaurant and bar, where club members meet in the evenings, she added.
Who Lives There
With its opulent homes, a high level of security and an emphasis on privacy, Anfa is most popular with business people and politicians, Bouskila said. Over the years, it has served as a meeting point for influential decision makers.
“The neighbourhood’s history is marked by major international meetings, most notably in 1943 when Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and the French generals Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle outlined the Allied strategy for the post-World War II era,” Leon said.
Notable Residents
Current notable residents include former Minister of Industry, Trade and New Technologies Moulay Hafid Elalamy and his family; President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises Chakib Laalej; and Steve O’Hana, president of the Morocco-Israel business council, according to Bouskila.
Outlook
Anfa has long commanded high prices thanks to its exclusivity, but in recent years the cost of homes in the historic neighbourhood has soared.
“Since the Covid-19 pandemic, prices have increased—they have never been so high,” Bouskila said. Strong demand for the limited housing stock in Anfa ensures that prices remain elevated in comparison with other areas of the city.
“Luxury products behave the same way around the world,” she said. “Crisis does not impact the price of a Hermès bag or a Ferrari.”
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Rugged coastal drives and fireside drams define a slow, indulgent journey through Scotland’s far north.
A haven for hedge-fund titans and Hollywood grandees, Greenwich is one of the world’s most expensive residential enclaves, where eye-watering prices meet unapologetic grandeur.
A haven for hedge-fund titans and Hollywood grandees, Greenwich is one of the world’s most expensive residential enclaves, where eye-watering prices meet unapologetic grandeur.
4 min
Greenwich, Connecticut, is in New England (just barely), but that doesn’t mean it’s a quaint, sleepy small town with covered bridges and white churches on the green.
It’s leafy, certainly, but it’s also a luxury-minded power centre close to New York City, with many celebrity residents (director Ron Howard, singer Diana Ross, actor Meryl Streep and, at one time, Australia’s own Mel Gibson).
The main shopping street, Greenwich Avenue, is home to brand stores such as Hermès, Kate Spade, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Tiffany & Co.
And Greenwich, particularly in the “back country” north of the Merritt Parkway, is host to some of the most exclusive real estate in the world.
The average price for a single-family home in the second quarter of 2025 was USD $3.25 million (AUD $4.9 million). But that’s merely an entry point, buying a smaller home in one of the town’s less desirable neighbourhoods.
What does USD $43 million (AUD $66 million) buy in Greenwich?
Last autumn’s most expensive listing offered a 1,068-square-metre waterfront home with eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, plus “Gatsby-like lawns”, a gym, games room, party room, wine cellar, fruit orchard, pool and spa. The front and side porches have heated floors.
Prefer something more traditional and secluded? For USD $33 million (AUD $50 million), buyers could close on an 11,760-square-metre Georgian manor on 3.2 hectares, featuring eight fireplaces, an elevator, and a dumbwaiter.
The first floor features a three-storey cascading chandelier. For bibliophiles, there’s a two-storey mahogany library. If bocce is more your pace, a similar USD $25 million compound on 7.5 hectares, built for a liquor magnate in 2009, may appeal. Fourteen bathrooms should suffice.
The Greenwich market is strong, but not without challenges.
“The big problem is that there’s no inventory,” said Evangela Brock, an agent with Douglas Elliman. “It’s extremely low at all price points.”
In November, just 15 properties under USD $1 million (AUD $1.52 million) were listed without contracts, compared with 23 above USD $10 million (AUD $15.2 million). Of those, six had contracts pending. Greenwich has more than 17,000 single-family homes.
Kanebridge Quarterly toured two mid-priced houses in Greenwich. “You don’t lose money in Greenwich real estate,” said Beth MacGillivray, a realtor with the Higgins Group. “This is the hot spot.”
MacGillivray opened the door to a 733.9-square-metre Georgian colonial in the Sherwood Farms Association development her family built in 2005. The house was expected to sell for about USD $5 million (AUD $7,743,535).
The six-bedroom, four-level house is move-in ready, with staged furniture showing its potential and many of the amenities that buyers in this range expect.
Visitors enter through a two-storey foyer with a marble floor. A circular staircase leads to an airy living room with double-height ceilings.
There’s a main bedroom with his-and-hers bathrooms, a cherry-panelled library with cigar-smoke venting, five fireplaces, and a state-of-the-art kitchen with a breakfast nook by Greenwich-based designer Christopher Peacock.
Most rooms have huge walk-in wardrobes. Even the laundry room has granite countertops. Custom millwork, cabinetry and fixtures are evident throughout.
The drawbacks? A smaller yard and no pool. Still, refugees from the city would marvel at the abundant interior space.
Not far away, an entirely different house was on the market for USD $2.66 million.
The imposing 696.7-square-metre, nine-bedroom, seven-bath Georgian/Federal home on Shady Lane in the Glenville neighbourhood was built in 1900. Its good bones and inherent grandeur were apparent, as was a clear need for updating.
“It’s a good project for someone,” said realtor Kaori Higgins. “It needs the right buyer, someone who is looking to return it to its stately original condition.”
Given the hot market, some buyers may be tempted to tear it down and build anew.
But the house is filled with charming period details, including hand-built stone fireplaces, reading nooks, pocket doors, leaded windows and beautiful original millwork.
The second floor offers a vast veranda with views of Long Island Sound and a built-in swimming pool.
The drawbacks? Bathrooms that were awkwardly redesigned in the 1970s, unsightly flooring on the upper levels, and crumbling exterior elements.
Higgins noted that a nearby sister property, fully renovated, sold for USD $11 million (AUD $17 million). Any buyer of Shady Lane’s faded elegance would need both imagination and deep pockets.
For contrast, Kanebridge Quarterly left Greenwich for nearby Fairfield’s upscale Greenfield Hill neighbourhood to visit Lion’s Gate, a 595 square metre Tudor Revival home built as a modest dwelling in the 1920s but extensively expanded and remodelled in 2000.
With three acres of land, a guest cottage, an artist’s studio and a pool house, the asking price is USD $3.3 million (AUD $5 million). Like the Sherwood home, Lion’s Gate is flawlessly move-in ready, with designer touches throughout.
The entire second floor was added during the renovation and features parquet flooring, a massive main suite, arched doorways and 2.74-metre ceilings.
Many rooms include walk-in wardrobes, extensive carved millwork and built-ins. The wood-panelled library (on the site of the former stable) is warm and inviting.
The expansive kitchen includes a window seat with a hand-painted ceiling, a wine cooler and a butler’s pantry.
Realtor Lorelei Atwood said Fairfield faces the same inventory shortage as Greenwich.
“Demand is growing as more New York-based executives are being told they have to report to the office,” she said. “Fairfield has always been a commuter town.”
Why is this home USD $3.3 million (AUD $5 million), and the Sherwood property around USD $5 million (AUD $7,743,535)?
Location. Greenfield Hill is lovely, but Greenwich real estate occupies a rarefied class of its own.
Note: Thanks to realtor Sherri Steeneck for chaperoning.
This story appeared in the Autumn issue of Kanebridge Quarterly, which you can buy here.
