<p>Expansive soils and landslides cause composite deformation in hilly slopes. The impact of each on the consequent building damage is still poorly characterized. In fact, the identification and the origin of soil deformation types as well as the signature crack pattern associated with each phenomenon are not fully investigated. In this regard, we used time-series analysis of Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar data to reveal the typical response of both phenomena to significant rainfall events in Moulay Yacoub town, Northern Morocco. A representative building cracks sample, caused by both soil deformation styles, is also analyzed using statistical means in an attempt to bridge the gap between soil deformation characterization and crack pattern typology. In addition, mineralogical tests are deployed to reveal the origin of swellable soils in the study area. Our findings suggest that areas affected by landslides yield different PS deformation relative to those impacted by swelling-shrinkage. The latter difference is also revealed by the cluster analysis performed on the building pathology database, which established a statistical link between the observed crack types and the involved geomorphological hazard. As for the origin of swellable soils, the presence of interstratified illite–smectite clay minerals combined with osmotic processes is deemed responsible for the swelling behavior of surface layers despite the abundance of gypsum crystals. As such, this research effort constitutes a significant step towards understanding landslides in a swellable soil setting. It shows how one can distinguish between both phenomena and map their spatial extension using remote sensing and building pathology assessment.</p>