Oman's Ministry of Housing holds real estate workshop for expats

Muscat: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning held a workshop on foreign ownership of residential real estate units in the Sultanate of Oman.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, represented by the Department of Regulating Offices and Real Estate Brokers, recently held an introductory workshop on selling residential real estate units under the usufruct system for expats in multi-storey residential and commercial buildings, under the patronage of His Excellency Eng Hamad bin Ali Al Nazwani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Housing.

The workshop dealt with a number of issues including purchase controls, housing unit controls, the economic benefits from implementing the decision and registration steps and procedures.

The workshop discussed the measures in place for buying real estate for foreigners, which include that the owner must be at least 23 years old and should have a two-year work permit in Oman. And only one housing unit can be purchased jointly with other first-degree relatives.

The workshop also discussed the licensing conditions, which include that the building should be located within the specified areas by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and the building must be completed according to the maps approved by the competent municipality. Also, the age of the building should not exceed four years from the date of issuance of the construction completion certificate. In addition to that, the number of floors in the building should be no less than four residential floors.

The workshop also dealt with the economic benefits of pumping cash into the real estate market to raise its performance, expansion of real estate development projects and activate innovative policies to recycle local residents' funds.

The decision aims to stimulate the real estate market and keep up with global trends to control the movement of funds in the real estate sector in Oman. It is also to take into account the privacy of the Omani society and demographics as investment and ownership is limited to certain places. It is also to support Omani owners of commercial residential buildings.