Luma Residence, Bandar Jissah, Muscat Bay, Oman

Luma Residence is a 240-home neighbourhood inside Muscat Bay, the resort community set in the bay at Bandar Jissah, south-east of Muscat. It mixes three products on one site — 156 apartments in low-rise buildings, 52 townhouses and 32 villas — in creamy render, wood-textured stone and tinted-glass balustrades, stepped into a valley between the Hajar mountains and the sea.

Two features are central to the offer. The first is the payment plan: 50% of the price falls due on completion, and the booking deposit is 2.5%. The second is the price ladder — villas start at $650,200 and townhouses at $568,400, both above Oman’s OMR 200,000 residency threshold, while the $300,500 apartments are below it. This guide works through sizes, prices, the eight instalments, service charges and the developer.

Luma Residence at a glance

Sizes and prices

At Luma the price per square foot falls as the home gets larger. The apartment is priced at $248 per square foot and the villa at $217 — a 13% difference. This is the reverse of Golf Hills, where the three-bedroom costs 20% more per foot than the one-bedroom.

The reason is that you are not buying the same thing. The apartment price carries a share of lift cores, lobbies, the clubhouse and the shared pool. The villa price is weighted towards land, a private plot, its own pool and two covered parking bays — and land inside an operating resort community prices differently from built floor area. Measured strictly in dollars per square foot, the villas and townhouses are priced at $217 and $218 against $248 for the apartments.

Reading the unit table: home by home

The sizes and prices table gives one entry point for each home type, and reading the rows side by side shows how the scheme is organised. The two-bedroom apartment starts at 1,211 sq ft (113 m²) and $300,500, which is $248 per square foot. The townhouse starts at 2,607 sq ft (242 m²) and $568,400, or $218 per square foot. The three-bedroom villa starts at 2,997 sq ft (278 m²) and $650,200, or $217 per square foot. The scheme as a whole spans 1,137 to 3,226 sq ft (106 to 300 m²), and the 3,226 sq ft home is priced on request.

Moving from the apartment to the townhouse adds 1,396 sq ft of floor area and $267,900 to the entry price. Moving from the townhouse to the villa adds a further 390 sq ft (36 m²) and $81,800. Divided by the listed area in square metres, the entry prices work out to roughly $2,659 per m² for the apartment, $2,349 for the townhouse and $2,339 for the villa.

The payment plan: 50% held to handover

This is the main payment term at Luma Residence. The plan runs to eight instalments and blends calendar dates with construction milestones — but the structure is dominated by one number.

Three consequences follow, and they are worth stating plainly.

Half the price is paid before handover. On an apartment you will have paid $150,250 by handover; on a villa, $325,100.

The booking deposit is 2.5%. 2.5% is $7,513 on an apartment.

You need half the money ready in Q1 2029. The plan places a large single payment at the end. If you intend to use a mortgage, start that conversation early. Our guide to buying off-plan in Oman covers the escrow and staged-payment mechanics.

What each instalment costs

A worked example: how the eight instalments add up

The instalment table above lists each payment in dollars. Grouping the eight payments by their trigger shows the shape of the plan. The four date-based payments (2.5% on booking, 7.5% at signing, and 5% at six and at twelve months) add up to 20% of the price. The three construction milestones add 30%, and the completion payment is the remaining 50%.

For the $300,500 apartment, the date-based payments total $60,100 over the first twelve months: $7,513 at booking, $22,538 at signing and $15,025 at each of the two later dates. The three milestone payments of $30,050 add $90,150, which brings the total before handover to $150,250, and the same $150,250 is due on completion. For the $650,200 villa the date-based payments total $130,040 and the milestones add $195,060, so each half comes to $325,100.

These figures are illustrative and use the prices listed on this page; the payment schedule in the sale agreement is the binding record. In rial terms, the apartment’s completion payment of $150,250 is about OMR 57,800 at the peg of OMR 1 = USD 2.6008.

Residency: prices against the OMR 200,000 threshold

Oman’s property-linked residency routes turn on investment thresholds. Golden Residency requires a single ITC property worth at least OMR 200,000 — roughly $520,000 at the rial’s long-standing dollar peg — and is decided by the Royal Oman Police; the Owner Visa has no minimum. Prices at Luma sit on both sides of that level within the same development:

The townhouse, from $568,400, is priced at or above the threshold with a margin rather than sitting exactly on the line. The apartments are priced below OMR 200,000.

Routes differ by duration and investment level — read Oman Golden Residency vs the Owner Visa and confirm the details against the specific unit, price and date.

Service charges, split by product

Luma publishes two rates and states the period explicitly as yearly.

Apartments pay a 32% higher rate per square metre than villas — logical, since apartment owners fund lifts, lobbies, corridors and the shared pool that villa owners largely do not use. The townhouse figures in the table are indicative, calculated at the villa rate.

The charges attach to much larger homes inside an operating resort community with a clubhouse, restaurant and landscaped grounds to maintain. As a share of price, the charges come to 0.70–0.80%. Our guide to service charges in Omani real estate sets out what these typically cover, and property tax in Oman covers transaction costs. Oman levies no annual property tax and no income tax on rent.

Apartment layouts: buildings, not towers

The apartment product is low-rise. The published plans describe whole buildings floor by floor, with a penthouse on top of each:

Three or four storeys, three or four homes per building — the main reason Luma reads as a neighbourhood rather than a block.

What you get inside

Homes are delivered finished, in a warm palette.

On the private pool line, villas come with their own pool, finished in mosaic rather than painted render. Combined with WPC decking and porcelain driveways, they form the external specification.

Parking

Parking provision varies by product.

Amenities and the clubhouse

The clubhouse is described as the social centre of the neighbourhood.

A restaurant and a beauty salon inside a 240-home neighbourhood are part of the provision. This works here because Luma is not standing alone: it sits inside Muscat Bay, which already operates a Jumeirah resort, a village square and a residents’ club. That existing traffic is what makes a 240-home clubhouse restaurant viable, and it is the structural difference between buying inside a resort community and beside one.

Location: Bandar Jissah

Bandar Jissah is a coastal pocket enclosed by the Hajar mountains. Bandar Khayran — the bay next door — has clear water and live coral, and is a snorkelling and diving spot near the capital; the mountains behind carry trekking routes. Qantab Beach is six minutes away.

Everyday services are close; the city is 25 minutes and the airport 35, and the nearest international school is 13 minutes away and the nearest university 15.

Airport access across our Oman listings

Jood is in the Sultan Haitham City band.

Price per square foot across our Oman listings

The villa is priced at $217 per square foot — a detached home with a private pool inside a resort community — and the townhouse at $218.

The developer: Saraya Bandar Jissah, now Muscat Bay

The developer is an Omani company formed in 2007 as a partnership between the state-owned tourism group OMRAN Group and Saraya Oman. It specialises in integrated residential and resort destinations, and the community Luma sits inside is Muscat Bay, which the company rebranded to from “Saraya Bandar Jissah” in 2017.

The developer is partly state-owned. OMRAN is Oman’s government tourism development arm. The developer has also already delivered and operates the surrounding community — the resort, the club and the supermarket exist and function.

About Muscat Bay and its partners

Muscat Bay is the trading name of Saraya Bandar Jissah, formed in 2007 as a partnership between OMRAN Group, the Government of Oman’s executive arm for tourism development, and Saraya Oman, a subsidiary of the Jordan-based Saraya Holdings. The company adopted the Muscat Bay brand in April 2017, and the community covers 2.2 million m² on the Gulf of Oman coast.

The first phase of homes was announced complete in the second quarter of 2019: 22 Wajd villas, 33 Nameer island villas and 200 Zaha residences, 255 homes in all. The Jumeirah Muscat Bay hotel, with 206 rooms, opened on 30 June 2022. Luma Residence was launched on 12 January 2026.

The full timeline and sources are on the Muscat Bay developer profile, and the developers directory places it alongside the other developers on our site.

Luma by buyer profile

Matching homes to buyer types

Families. A family may look first at the three-bedroom villa: 2,997 sq ft, a private pool, a canopy for two cars and WPC-decked terraces. ISWKi International Cambridge School is 13 minutes away and Middle East Nursery 17 minutes, and the community pool and walking and cycling paths are on site.

Second-home owners. The attraction is the setting: Qantab Beach six minutes away, snorkelling and diving at Bandar Khayran, the Jumeirah Muscat Bay resort in the same community and a 35-minute drive to Muscat International Airport.

Investors. The resort setting lends itself to holiday and seasonal lets, which resort communities often route through an approved operator.

Long stays and retirement. The clubhouse has a restaurant, spa, fitness centre and yoga studio, and Khoula Hospital is 19 minutes away. The Owner Visa has no minimum price, and Golden Residency applies at or above OMR 200,000.

Freehold ownership

Homes at Luma Residence are sold freehold and are open to buyers of any nationality, with title registered in the purchaser’s name. Muscat Bay is an Integrated Tourism Complex, the designation under which foreign freehold ownership is permitted in Oman — our guide to freehold property in Oman and the ITC framework explains how the zones work and what registration involves. Background on the wider community is on Muscat Bay’s Wikipedia entry.

Why Muscat, and why this price level

The case for Oman rests on freehold ownership inside designated zones, no annual property tax and no income tax on rental income, and crime figures published on international crime indices. The rial has been pegged to the US dollar for decades. Government context is published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, with national policy set by Oman Vision 2040 and Invest Oman.

At Luma, apartments start at $300,500 and detached villas with a private pool inside a functioning resort community at $650,200. For other price levels in Muscat, see the best areas to buy property in Muscat. On timing, see whether now is a good time to buy in Oman.

Rental demand and exit

The rental proposition here is resort-led rather than employment-led: a Jumeirah resort, dive and snorkel access at Bandar Khayran, mountain trekking, and a beach six minutes away — the ingredients of holiday and seasonal lets rather than twelve-month corporate tenancies.

Current Muscat ranges are in our guide to rental yields in Oman, and branded residences in Oman covers how hotel-adjacent product performs.

Short-let policy. Resort communities frequently route holiday lettings through an approved operator, which affects both your net yield and your freedom to use the home yourself.

On exit, supply is finite: 240 homes, 43 left, inside a community that is already built and operating. The pre-handover exit route is assignment, subject to the policy, fee and earliest permitted date.

Paying from abroad

Prices are quoted in US dollars and settled in Omani rials, and the rial has been pegged to the dollar for decades. Buyers paying in euros, pounds or another currency convert for each instalment, including the 50% payable on completion.

Payments go to the project’s escrow account. Keep SWIFT confirmations — they form part of the proof-of-payment file at registration. Rates and banking information are published by the Central Bank of Oman.

How to buy: step by step

• 1. Check current availability. 43 of 240. Ask for the live availability list by type, plot and orientation before choosing a plan.
• 2. Book at 2.5%, then sign within 15 days. The sale agreement sets out the escrow account, the finishing schedule, the Q1 2029 handover target and the payment schedule.
• 3. Three milestone payments follow. Substructure, superstructure and engineering systems, each payable on completion of the stage.
• 4. Prepare the 50%. This is the whole plan in one line. Have the funds or the financing arranged well before handover.

From reservation to keys: the process in more detail

A purchase at Luma follows the usual off-plan sequence:

• Reservation. The buyer selects a home from the live availability list and pays the 2.5% booking deposit. The reservation form records the unit, the price and the deposit.
• Sale and purchase agreement (SPA). The SPA is signed 15 days after booking and carries the 7.5% instalment. It sets out the payment schedule, the finishing specification and the Q1 2029 handover target.
• Escrow account. Reservation documents normally name the bank, the account holder and the project escrow account into which instalments are paid. Royal Decree 79/2025, issued on 10 September 2025, promulgated Oman’s new law regulating real estate, and the reservation documents state the escrow arrangements that apply to each buyer’s payments.
• Registration. Muscat Bay is an Integrated Tourism Complex, so freehold title can be registered in the purchaser’s name once the documents place the specific unit inside the ITC.
• Handover and snagging. On completion the final 50% falls due and the home is handed over; per the developer, the target is Q1 2029. At handover the buyer inspects the home and lists any finishing points for the developer to complete, which is known as snagging. Electricity and water accounts are then set up with the providers.

What to prepare when reserving

• Reservation form and the booking deposit.
• Sale agreement stating the Q1 2029 handover target.
• Escrow account details for the instalments.
• Payment schedule with the three construction milestones.
• Service-charge schedule.
• ITC freehold title documents for registration.

Glossary of terms used on this page

• ITC (Integrated Tourism Complex). The designation under which foreign buyers can hold freehold title in Oman.
• SPA. The sale and purchase agreement between buyer and developer, setting out price, payment schedule, specification and handover target.
• Escrow account. The project bank account into which buyers’ instalments are paid.
• Snagging. The inspection at handover that lists minor finishing points for the developer to complete.
• Service charge. The yearly contribution to running the shared areas, quoted here in OMR per m² per year.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Luma Residence?
In Bandar Jissah, inside the Muscat Bay resort community south-east of Muscat — 6 minutes from Qantab Beach, about 25 minutes from the city and 35 minutes from Muscat International Airport.

Can foreigners buy at Luma Residence?
Yes. Homes are sold freehold and are open to buyers of any nationality, with title registered in the purchaser’s name. Muscat Bay is an Integrated Tourism Complex, the designation that permits foreign freehold ownership in Oman.

How much does a home cost?
Apartments start at $300,500 from 1,211 sq ft, townhouses at $568,400 from 2,607 sq ft, and villas at $650,200 from 2,997 sq ft. The scheme’s homes run up to 3,226 sq ft.

What is the payment plan?
Eight instalments: 2.5% on booking, 7.5% at signing 15 days later, 5% at 6 months, 5% at 12 months, then 10% each at substructure, superstructure and engineering-systems completion, and 50% on completion. Half the price is paid before handover.

What are the service charges?
8.27 OMR per m² per year for apartments and 6.27 OMR per m² per year for villas — roughly 930 OMR (about $2,419) on a 1,211 sq ft apartment and 1,746 OMR (about $4,540) on a 2,997 sq ft villa.

When does Luma Residence complete?
Q1 2029, according to the sales material.

How many homes are there?
240 in total — 156 apartments, 52 townhouses and 32 villas. About 43 remain available.

Do the villas have private pools?
Yes. Villa pools are specified with a pearl-white mosaic tile finish, and villa and townhouse terraces are laid in WPC composite decking.

Is parking included?
Villas get a canopy for two cars and townhouses a canopy for one. Apartments have open-air parking in front of the buildings, not covered bays.

Are the homes furnished?
Not furnished, but finished — wood-textured porcelain floors, painted walls and gypsum ceilings, a wood-effect accent wall, matte charcoal kitchen cabinetry and grey porcelain bathrooms with oak-veneer vanities.

Does buying here qualify for Omani residency?
Golden Residency requires a single ITC property worth at least OMR 200,000 (about $520,000) and is decided by the Royal Oman Police; the Owner Visa has no minimum. Villas at $650,200 and townhouses at $568,400 are above that level; the $300,500 apartments are below it. See our guide to Golden Residency and the Owner Visa.

Who is the developer?
Saraya Bandar Jissah, now trading as Muscat Bay — an Omani company founded in 2007 as a partnership between the state tourism group OMRAN and Saraya Oman. It developed and operates the surrounding Muscat Bay community.

How much of the price is paid in the first twelve months?
20%: 2.5% on booking, 7.5% at signing, and 5% each at six and twelve months. On the $300,500 apartment that is $60,100, and on the $650,200 villa $130,040.

How is the service charge calculated?
The rate (8.27 OMR per m² per year for apartments, 6.27 for villas) is multiplied by the home’s area in square metres. The 113 m² apartment comes to about 930 OMR a year and the 278 m² villa to about 1,746 OMR.

In which currency are payments made?
Prices are quoted in US dollars and settled in Omani rials at the long-standing peg of OMR 1 = USD 2.6008, so a buyer paying in another currency converts each instalment.

Who develops the neighbouring projects?
Zen Residences, inside Muscat Bay, is developed by Zen Development and Investment, and Al Mina belongs to the neighbouring Barr Al Jissah resort.

Talk to UInvest about Luma Residence

With 43 of 240 homes left, the live availability list is the document that matters, and it changes weekly. UInvest works directly with Muscat developers, which means current pricing, real availability by plot and orientation and the full set of layouts. We handle escrow and title verification, guide the booking and registration, and advise on residency thresholds against your specific unit.

Browse villas for sale in Oman, townhouses for sale in Oman and apartments for sale in Oman, explore all Oman property with UInvest, or contact us for the current Luma Residence price list, the instalment schedule and a service charge breakdown.