Total value of property transactions in Oman reaches OMR1.21 Billion

Muscat: The total value of property transactions in the Sultanate at the end of July 2020 fell 18.8 per cent to reach OMR1.21 billion from OMR1.49 billion for the same period of 2019, as indicated by the preliminary statistics issued by National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). The number of plots issued at the end of July 2020 was 92,929, which is a decline of 27.6 per cent compared to the end of July 2019, when 128,336 plots were issued. Of the total traded value at the end of July 2020, OMR442.9 million worth transactions were sales contracts, while OMR719.8 million transactions were mortgage deals. As many as 26,878 sales contracts were executed in July 2020 against 34,637 contracts during the same period of 2019. However, the total number of mortgage contracts fell by 31 per cent to reach 6,706 contracts against 9,714 contracts in 2019. The Sultanate’s government collected OMR35.7 million as real estate transaction fees at the end of July 2020, which is a drop of 30.4 per cent compared to the same period of 2019. NCSI data reveal a significant fall in the traded value of exchange (barter) contracts by 246 per cent at the end of July 2020 to OMR48.8 million, as against OMR14.1 million posted in the comparable period of 2019. The number of barter contracts witnessed a fall of 9 per cent to a total of 916, compared to 1,007 contracts in 2019. The number of plots allocated to GCC citizens fell by 60.9 per cent to reach 220 plots compared to 563 plots during the same period of 2019, the data showed.