By August 2022, more than 22,000 title deeds had been issued, and real estate transactions totalling more than OMR192 million had taken place in the Sultanate of Oman.

Real Estate Transactions

The Sultanate has had more than 192 million OMR worth of real estate transactions up to August of this year, including 107 million OMR worth of mortgages, 82 million OMR worth of sales contracts, and 47 million OMR worth of swap contracts, according to a report from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.

Over OMR 5 million in fees were collected from these legal dealings, of which OMR 579,000 came from mortgages on real estate, OMR 47,000 from swap agreements, and OMR 2 million from sales agreements.

The report also stated that there were 12,830 legal transactions overall; 6,463 of these contracts were for sales, 112 were swaps, 2,056 were mortgages, 1,859 were gifts, 537 were inheritances, 998 were pledges, and 805 were divisions.

Title Deeds Executed in Oman Governorates

According to the report, 22,775 title deeds were executed during the period across all governorates in the Sultanate, including:

• The Muscat Governorate – 4,420.
• Dhofar Governorate – 1,614.
• Musandam Governorate – 199.
• Buraimi Governorate – 601.
• The Governorate of Al Dakhiliyah – 2,738.
• North Al Batinah Governorate – 390.
• The Governorate of South Al Batinah – 3,573.
• South Sharqiyah Governorate – 1,913.
• North Al Sharqiyah Governorate – 1,942.
• Al Dhahirah Governorate – 1,612.
• Al Wusta Governorate – 259.

Along with 110 titles granted in favour of GCC nationals, the Governorate of Muscat had the highest concentration of these titles, followed by the Governorates of North and South Al Batinah. 4,857 different land plots were registered for the first time in total.

Property Registration Requests

Property registration requests were 1,163 during the same period, with 626 being owned and 794 being inspected.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning Initiatives

During that time, the Ministry was also a part of several initiatives, including offering 22 residential, industrial, and commercial properties for electronic auction and development under the usufruct system in six different states, as well as seven properties for gas station bidding under the same initiative.

The Ministry also received requests for a ministerial decision to standardise fees for registration and documentation of actions and proof of ownership for Sorouh projects while continuing to grant residential lands through the “Choose Your Land” service.

The Ministry sent a specialised team to South Al Batinah to study climate-affected sites and listen to locals. The Ministry signed an MOU with the Omani Qatar Telecom Company to promote digital transformation, develop services, and share technical expertise with the private sector.

Regarding urban strategy, the Ministry participated in the smart cities discussion session to benefit from experts and specialists to integrate future urban planning.

As for the real estate development sector, the Ministry is implementing the Al-Naseem neighbourhood project, which has completed 60% of the first phase and built 220 housing units.

Concerning social housing projects, housing assistance was the main focus of August’s work to finish the processes related to registered applications. In the governorates of South Al Sharqiyah and Muscat, the application processes for housing assistance are now complete.