Traded value of real estate in Oman surges 43.2%

Muscat: Total traded value of real estate in the Sultanate this year stood in excess of OMR 3.81 billion at the end of November 2015, reflecting a growth of 43.2 per cent, against OMR 2.66 billion recorded in the same period in 2014, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Meanwhile, the aggregate fees collected from all property-related legal transactions rose 18.8 per cent to touch OMR 44.3 million, up from OMR37.3 million last year. The traded value of sale contracts recorded a 12.7 per cent jump, with figures exceeding OMR1.22 billion.
Significantly though, the number of sale contracts fell 0.5 per cent to 73,705, compared with 74,050 contracts during the same period of 2014.
The traded value of property in November was pegged at OMR394.2 million, while the traded value of sales contracts for the month stood at OMR205.4 million.
NCSI data also revealed that the traded value of mortgage contracts surged 64.3 per cent to a record OMR2.56 billion-plus, compared with OMR1.56 billion last year.
The traded value of exchange (barter) contracts during the January to November period showed a significant 72.9 per cent increase to OMR18.2 million, rising from OMR10.5 million posted last year over the comparable period. The number of barter contracts also witnessed a rise of 22.4 per cent to a total of 1,237, compared with 1,011 contracts in 2014.
As for issued properties, in all 223,799 title deeds were issued during the period, reflecting a 10.5 per cent rise over 202,526 title deeds executed by the end of November last year.
On the other hand, the number of properties issued to the citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries posted a decline of 25.8 per cent over the January to November period, with the numbers falling to 2,132 from last year’s 2,875. During the month of November, as many as 173 properties were issued to GCC nationals.