Real estate deals in Oman rise by 4.2% in April

Muscat: Recovery continues on the real estate market in the Sultanate with sales showing a robust growth in the first four months of 2018, compared to the same period of last year.
Reflecting the market trend, the total value of property transactions in Oman during January-April period of 2018 increased by 4.2 per cent to OMR1.01 billion, from OMR970.8 million for the same period of last year, shows the latest monthly statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Of the total value in the first four months, OMR340.9 million were sales contracts, while OMR664.6 million transactions were mortgage deals, added the NCSI report.
As many as 21,504 sales contracts were executed in January-April period of 2018, against 21,658 deals for the same period of last year, noted the NSCI monthly report.
However, the total number of mortgage contracts declined by 22.3 per cent to 5,753 in the first four months of 2018, against 7,402 deals for the same period of last year.
The Sultanate collected OMR32.1 million by way of real estate transaction fees (stamp duty) during January-April period of 2018, up by 10.5 per cent compared to the same period of last year. Besides, 82,709 plots were issued in the first four months of 2018, against 83,261 plots for the same period of last year — indicating a marginal fall of 0.7 per cent. Of this, 560 plots were issued to GCC citizens during January-April period of 2018.
In 2017, the total value of property deals stood at OMR 26.09 billion, the NCSI data showed. Of the total value, OMR1.14 billion worth of deals were sales contracts, while OMR1.45 billion transactions were mortgage contracts. As many as 225,468 plots were allocated last year. Of this, 1,211 plots were allocated to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens.