While the update by National Centre for Statistics and Information may point to a minor decline in Oman's property market, construction is expected to continue to grow
The value of real estate transactions in Oman reached $3.67bn (OMR1.413bn) in 1H 2018, Oman’s National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) said.
Compared with the first half of 2017, which saw $3.61bn (OMR1.419bn) in real estate transactions, this is a marginal decrease of 0.4%. Reflecting on this figure, NCSI said activity in the real estate market had been "dull" so far this year.
Of the total value in the first six months, OMR 486.3 million were sales contracts, while OMR 919.8 million transactions were mortgage deals, added the NCSI report.
As many as 30,267 sales contracts were executed in January-June period of 2018, against 30,618 deals for the same period of last year, noted NSCI. Also, the total number of mortgage contracts declined by 18.3 per cent to 8,610 in the first six months of 2018, against 10,537 deals for the same period of last year.
Despite this, the Oman government has collected OMR 45.5 million by way of real estate transaction fees (stamp duty) during January-June period of 2018, up by 10.1 per cent compared to the same period of last year.
Omani authorities allocated a total of 116,039 land plots in the first six months of 2018, compared with 115,864 allocated for the same period a year earlier. Interestingly, only 812 land plots – or 0.6% – of the plots were allocated to citizens from the GCC during this period, NCSI said.
While the data may point to a minor decline in Oman's property market, construction in the country is expected to continue to grow, according to a separate report by Cluttons. The report suggests that rising prices for oil and gas and growing tourism will support the sultanate's economy, which in turn will generate growth for other areas of the economy, such as construction.
Source: National Centre for Statistics and Information
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