Residential plots’ allocation rise 3.5% in Oman

Muscat: There was a 3.5 per cent rise in the allocation of residential plots to 19,431 during the first six months of 2016 in the Sultanate as against last year’s 18,768.
During the period, the Sultanate’s real-estate transactions surged 176.7 per cent to touch OMR6.175 billion, compared with OMR2.23 billion in 2015, according to the latest data published by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Among the governorates, South Al Batinah allocated the largest number of residential plots at 3,708. However, the figure marked a 5.2 per cent decline from issued plots during the same period of 2015.
Issuing 3,647 residential plots in the first six months, A’Dakhiliyah came at second place even as the number of issued plots decreased by 22 per cent, compared with last year’s figures.
A’Dhahirah followed with 3,236 plots, posting a staggering 258 per cent increase over figures for the comparable period last year.
Muscat issued 1,088 plots (down 12.5 per cent), while Dhofar issued 932 plots (down 48.7 per cent). Musandam issued the lowest number of plots at 35 (as against five last year), while Al Buraimi issued 257 plots.
Residential land issued by North Al Batinah, North A’Sharqiyah and South A’Sharqiyah stood at 2,750, 2,393, and 920, respectively. Al Wusta was granted 465 plots.
Land plots
Last year, the total number of residential land plots awarded in the Sultanate stood at 38,975.
Fees collected through legal services jumped 44 per cent to OMR36.9 million, while the value of traded sales contracts declined 12.3 per cent to OMR569.8 million during the first half of 2016. Sales contracts fell 4.7 per cent to 40,263.
Mortgage contracts rose in value by 256.6 per cent to reach OMR5.6 billion, while the number of contracts went up 13 per cent to 13,084.
Barter contracts on the other hand fell in value by 66 per cent to OMR3.8 million, while their numbers declined by 42 per cent to 406.
The total number of issued properties in the first six months went up by 3.2 per cent to 130,523 as against 126,423 last year, while property issued to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens fell by 30.4 per cent to 943, compared with 1,354 properties issued during the same period last year.
In 2015, as many as 223,275 properties were issued, while properties issued to GCC citizens were numbered at 2,288.