Commercial Property in Oman for Foreign Investors (2026)

Commercial Property in Oman for Foreign Investors (2026)

This guide, checked on 16 October 2026, explains how commercial property in Oman works for a non-Omani buyer: which ownership routes exist for offices, shops and restaurant units, how they differ from residential freehold, what the buyer pays on purchase and during ownership, and what the commercial projects on our listing pages state about sizes, payment terms and handover. Figures are given as stated by the developer, a ministry or a named adviser, with the date of each source.

By the end you will be able to read the ownership claim on a commercial brochure against the legal framework, run the arithmetic behind the Golden Residency threshold for a single shop or office, estimate the VAT, registration fee and rent-related taxes on a purchase, and follow a document checklist for an off-plan commercial unit. The Omani rial is pegged at 2.6008 US dollars, so every price below shows OMR first and the US dollar equivalent in brackets. Our wider background on freehold property in Oman and on the property foreigners cannot buy covers the residential side; this article stays with commercial units.

Commercial Property in Oman at a Glance

Commercial property in Oman is not governed by one rule for everybody. A foreign buyer can reach it through an Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC), through a special economic zone or free zone project, through a long usufruct or lease, or through a company. Each route has a different legal basis, and the route attached to a given unit decides whether the buyer receives freehold title, a time-limited right, or a lease. The table summarises the position on 16 October 2026 and names the source for each line.

The rest of this guide follows the table from top to bottom: the definitions first, then each ownership route, then the numbers from our own commercial listings, and finally the costs, taxes and documents that sit around a purchase.

What Counts as Commercial Property in Oman

In everyday use, commercial property in Oman means offices, shops, restaurant and café units, banks and service outlets, warehouses and the car parking attached to them. The Tax Authority treats the sale and renting of commercial property, including hotel apartments, warehouses, stores and car parking, as one category for VAT, according to Deloitte’s note on the Tax Authority real estate guide. Mixed-use buildings are split by use: the guide, as summarised by Deloitte, says that when a mixed-use property is sold as a whole the price must be apportioned between its parts.

The statute that opens foreign freehold in special economic zones gives the most precise definition we found. Royal Decree 38/2025 defines real estate development as construction of residential, commercial, residential-commercial or tourism real estate projects, and defines a real estate unit as an apportioned part of such a project with a specific boundary and area, naming an apartment, an office, a shop, a floor and a house as examples. The same definition adds that the unit does not include the land on which it is built. That last sentence matters for a buyer: an office or shop purchased in a multi-unit building is a unit plus a share of the common parts, not a plot of land.

The common parts are run by an owners association. Article 48 of the same decree lets unit owners in a zone project form and manage an association that looks after the building, its common parts and its services, and Royal Decree 79/2025, the national real estate law, requires every project to have one, with legal personality and ministry supervision, according to BSA Law. Royal Decree 79/2025 also repealed the earlier system for the ownership of apartments and floors (Royal Decree 48/89), the real estate brokerage law (Royal Decree 78/86) and the escrow system of Royal Decree 30/2018, per the decree’s Article III. For a buyer of commercial units this means the owners association rules, the service charge schedule and the escrow account are all documents to read before signing; our guide to service charges in Oman real estate explains how those charges are normally expressed.

Commercial property differs from land. A plot is covered in our article on property foreigners cannot buy, and plots inside an ITC carry a building deadline: according to a Times of Oman legal opinion dated 25 July 2026, the owner must build or put the land to its intended use within four years of registration, and cannot sell the plot until construction is complete. Finished or off-plan units in a building do not carry that plot-level obligation, which is one reason buyers of shops and offices usually deal with units rather than land.

Routes for Foreign Ownership of Commercial Property in Oman

Oman has no single sentence that says “foreigners may buy commercial property.” Ownership by non-Omanis is built from separate instruments, and the instrument depends on where the building stands. The table lists the routes discussed in published legal commentary, with the nature of the right each one creates.

Company ownership of land is narrower than many brochures suggest. A 2017 note from the Curtis law firm says that only wholly Omani or GCC-owned limited liability companies, and joint stock companies with at least 30% Omani shareholding, may own land, usually for uses that serve the company’s objectives, with real estate development companies as the exception, while the ITC law lets foreign companies own units for residential and investment purposes. Two older instruments are frequently mentioned in connection with expatriates but do not extend to shops and offices. Ministerial Decision 357/2020 allows individual expatriates to hold usufruct rights in apartments in licensed multi-storey residential or mixed-use buildings in designated Muscat areas, with a term of up to 50 years extendable to 99, a minimum buyer age of 23, a two-year residency requirement and a cap of 40% of units in a building for non-Omanis, as summarised by Trowers & Hamlins in October 2020. That decision is written around apartments with at least two rooms, so it is a residential route.

The second is the geographic limit. Oman Observer reported on 9 March 2022 that ownership by non-Omanis is barred in a list of governorates, wilayats, islands and strategic areas, and in agricultural land, but that the restriction does not apply to land and property inside ITCs in any governorate. For a buyer of a shop or office, the practical question is therefore which legal designation the plot carries, because the same building type can sit under different rules in different places. Our comparison of Oman’s Integrated Tourism Complexes lists the communities that use the ITC designation.

The ITC Route and Commercial Units

An ITC is a master-planned tourism development licensed under Royal Decree 12/2006, as amended up to Royal Decree 76/2010, with its executive regulation in Ministerial Decision 191/2007, as amended up to Ministerial Decision 109/2022, according to the Times of Oman legal opinion of 25 July 2026. The Gulf Labour Markets, Migration and Population programme’s abstract of the 2007 regulation records that Article 2 lets non-Omani individuals and companies own built-up property or plots in these complexes “for accommodation or investment purposes.” The wording covers investment use as well as housing, which is the basis on which retail and office space is sold inside ITCs. A 2017 note from the Curtis law firm adds that ITCs generally combine commercial, residential and tourism components, and that foreign buyers purchase units from developers and register title with the Ministry of Housing.

The Pearl in Muscat Hills is the clearest example on our pages. Oman Observer reported on 11 July 2018 that Al Osool Properties, part of MJS Group, was building 298 apartments of one, two and three bedrooms on Muscat Hills Boulevard with a 4,000 m² commercial area, and described the scheme as freehold residential and commercial units inside Madinat Al Irfan. Our Pearl Muscat Hills shops listing states that 37 shop units occupy roughly 4,000 m² at ground level, which gives an average of about 108 m² per shop (4,000 ÷ 37 = 108.1). It adds that shop prices vary with size, frontage, corner position and distance from entrances and car park access, that the shop prices are on request, and that the handover date is set in each shop’s sale and purchase agreement.

The size of the ITC system is relevant to how many commercial addresses may exist. Oman Observer reported in June 2025 that about 19 ITCs were operational or under development as of mid-2023, that the Ministry announced 13 more under development in March 2025, and that 12 were in the pipeline. Our own freehold guide explains the licensing background in more detail. Not every ITC includes a commercial strip, and the existence of an ITC licence does not itself say which plots inside it carry shops or offices; that is recorded in the project’s licence documents and the sale and purchase agreement.

Muscat Hills is also the location of the newest commercial component on our pages, Dar Muscat Hills in Madinat Al Irfan, where Dar Arabia Development lists 15 shops and 4 offices beside 207 apartments. According to our listing page, the title category applicable to foreign buyers is set out in the developer’s sales documents together with the land-registry reference for the plot, and the page describes Muscat Hills as an ITC on the basis of third-party sources. The developer’s brochure gives a target of the beginning of December 2029 for handover.

Royal Decree 38/2025 and Regulation 81/2026

Royal Decree 38/2025 issued the Law of Special Economic Zones and Free Zones. The Sultan issued it on 7 April 2025 (8 Shawwal 1446), and it comes into force on the day after publication in the Official Gazette; Oman Observer gives 14 April 2025 as the date it took effect. KPMG Oman’s June 2025 alert notes that the law replaced the earlier free zones law and permits 100% foreign ownership of operators, enterprises and real estate developers. The authority responsible is the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ), which, according to Oman Observer, manages 23 investment zones including the Special Economic Zone at Duqm.

The chapter on real estate development projects is short. Article 42 says land for these projects is allocated to the developer by usufruct and that the developer may sell the units to non-Omanis, natural or legal persons, as freehold, in the manner specified by the regulation. Article 43 requires an independent escrow account for every project, Article 44 puts the registration of rights in the Real Estate Register under the authority, in coordination with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, Article 46 sets the developer’s obligations (build on schedule, open the escrow account, deliver on the agreed date and register the unit in the buyer’s name), and Article 47 forbids advertising off-plan units or taking reservation money before OPAZ approval. Article 40 provides that non-Omani investors in the zone and owners of real estate units, with their spouses and first-degree relatives, are granted residency under conditions and procedures the regulation sets after coordination with the Royal Oman Police.

The executive regulation arrived on 20 September 2026. Times of Oman and Muscat Daily both reported that OPAZ issued Regulation 81/2026, which covers licensing of real estate development projects, off-plan sales and freehold ownership of units by non-Omanis, only in projects to which the prescribed provisions apply. Times of Oman adds that developers must meet financial and technical requirements before marketing units, that escrow withdrawals are limited to their intended purposes, and that a one-stop shop handles land allocation, licences and approvals. The reports do not list the eligibility criteria for a project, and the eligibility of a particular building depends on whether the project holds the licence the law describes.

Two readings of the freehold rule appear in the public record, and both are attributed here. The statute’s definitions list offices and shops among real estate units. Oman Observer’s 18 June 2025 explainer on the same rule describes it in terms of residential units, quoting OPAZ on “absolute ownership.” A buyer looking at commercial property in Oman under this route should therefore ask for the project’s OPAZ licence, the unit’s registration extract and the regulation article the developer relies on, in writing, before paying beyond a reservation.

Knowledge Oasis Muscat and the Central 7 Office Building

Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM) is the technology park at Rusayl in western Muscat, described by Oman Observer on 18 April 2026 as the technology arm of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn). That report gives the site area as about 759,566 m², of which 494,832 m² is leasable and about 381,312 m² leased, to more than 100 government, semi-government and private tenants. New projects in 2025 were worth over OMR 8.53 million ($22 million) and added more than 21,000 m² of leased space, cumulative investment stood at about OMR 276.88 million ($720 million) at the end of 2025, and a mixed-use investment building of OMR 12 million ($31 million) with office and commercial space was 55% complete with a first-quarter 2027 target.

Central 7 sits inside this estate. Wujha Real Estate Development announced Central 7 together with the residential Uptown Muscat on 17 September 2025, and Invest-Gate’s report of the launch says the developer will deliver freehold office spaces to international standards; Daily News Egypt repeated that wording on 21 September 2025. Our Central 7 listing describes a seven-storey office and retail building on a 24,000 m² complex, with 4 m ceilings, eight passenger lifts, three dedicated parking bays per office, unit sizes from 309 sq ft (about 29 m²) to 3,225 sq ft (about 300 m²), and a target completion of the fourth quarter of 2026. Prices are quoted per unit by the developer, and the listing gives no price list to calculate from.

The legal basis for a foreign buyer’s freehold in a Madayn estate is the title designation recorded for the named unit. The instruments discussed above refer to ITCs and to special economic zones and free zones, and the developer’s freehold statement is the developer’s own. According to our listing page, the title designation for a named unit is set out in the sale and purchase agreement and project documents, and other routes (leasehold, usufruct of up to 50 years outside ITCs in designated locations, ownership through an Omani company, and usufruct under the Foreign Capital Investment Law) remain available. The unit-level documents to read are the sale and purchase agreement, the land registry extract and a written statement of the title category.

The neighbouring residential project shows how a commercial and a residential plan from one developer can differ. Uptown Muscat, about 290 m from Central 7 per our listing, has 445 residences from OMR 41,103 ($106,900) with 15% on reservation and the balance over five years and a handover target of the first quarter of 2027, while Central 7 asks 20% on booking with quarterly instalments to completion. Both are the developer’s terms as shown on our listing pages; the dated schedule in each sale and purchase agreement is the binding one.

Our Commercial Listings Compared

Three listings on our site include shops or offices for sale, and a fourth, Uptown Muscat, stands beside Central 7 with a retail gallery. The table sets out what each page states.

The Dar Muscat Hills unit schedule is the most detailed on our pages, taken from the developer’s brochure as transcribed on the listing. The breakdown below groups it by the level labels printed on the site plan and shows the arithmetic: each total is the sum of the printed areas and each average is that total divided by the number of units.

Across the 15 shops the total is 607.08 m² and the average is 40.47 m², which is well below the roughly 108 m² average that The Pearl’s figures imply. The two schemes therefore describe different retail formats: Dar Muscat Hills lists small units, while The Pearl lists larger ground-floor frontages. Central 7’s ground floor, according to our listing page, has a third pattern, shown below, with a supermarket, two bank branches, a pharmacy and eleven restaurant and café units.

These are the ground-floor components listed for the building; the page does not say which of them are offered for sale and which are reserved for the developer or for anchor tenants. A buyer reading a plan like this should ask which units are in the sales schedule, because the mix of tenants shapes footfall for every other unit in the building. Our guide to the developers building in Oman and the developer directory give the background on Wujha, Al Osool and Dar Arabia.

Residency and Commercial Units

Residency is where commercial property in Oman is most often misread. The Golden Residency rule used throughout this site is: a single ITC property worth at least OMR 200,000 ($520,160), decided by the Royal Oman Police. Middle East Briefing’s summary of the 31 August 2025 announcement lists the real estate route as purchasing residential, commercial or tourism units in an ITC, with a valid title deed, and a certified final balance sheet when a company holds the unit. Gulf News adds that the 10-year renewable permit can cover a spouse, children and first-degree relatives and that holders may own one more property outside ITCs, in areas otherwise open to non-Omani ownership. Our article on Golden Residency versus the Owner Visa sets out both routes in full.

The Owner Visa is a separate instrument. Royal Oman Police Decision 87/2026, published in Official Gazette No. 1653 and reported by Oman Observer on 25 June 2026, lets a foreign owner of a registered unit, a unit whose registration is not finished, or a plot prepared for construction obtain a sponsor-free visa or residency on a certificate from the competent authority. Visas are valid for not less than six months and not more than one year and are renewable, the spouse and first-degree relatives may be included, and residency ends for the owner and the family if ownership is transferred. Muscat Daily’s report of 21 June 2026 describes the same decision in terms of residential units and land designated for construction. Because the reports use both wordings, the certificate issued for the named unit is the document the visa rests on, and it is worth obtaining for a shop or office before relying on the route.

A single shop or office can reach OMR 200,000 only if its price per square metre is high enough for its size. The table turns the threshold into a required price per square metre for units on our pages: the threshold divided by the area. It is arithmetic on the threshold, not a statement of what any unit costs.

The pattern is straightforward. Small shops would need a very high price per square metre to reach the threshold alone, while large offices reach it at a much lower rate, so the threshold test depends on the unit chosen and the price quoted for it. Whether any unit on our pages qualifies depends on its title category and its final price, both of which are stated in the developer’s documents. The same arithmetic applies to the Owner Visa only in the sense that it has no minimum value, so the price is not the test for that route.

Costs at Purchase: Registration Fee, VAT and Payment Schedule

Three charges sit on top of the price of a commercial unit. The first is the registration charge. Deloitte’s Oman Highlights (January 2023) records that stamp duty applies to the acquisition of real estate at 3% of the sales value, and our listing pages give the same 3% as a one-time transfer fee for foreign buyers, payable on registration. The Pearl’s page works an example: a shop at OMR 200,000 ($520,160) carries a 3% fee of OMR 6,000 ($15,605).

The second is VAT. Oman introduced VAT at 5% on 16 April 2021 under Royal Decree 121/2020. In the Tax Authority’s real estate guide, as summarised by Deloitte on 30 September 2021, the sale and renting of commercial property is standard-rated at 5%, while undeveloped land, the resale of residential property and the rental of residential property are exempt, and the first supply of a new residential unit is standard-rated. That is a difference between commercial and residential purchases: a resale of a residential unit is exempt, while a commercial sale is taxable whenever the seller is registered. Whether a quoted price includes VAT is stated in the sale and purchase agreement. The Deloitte note adds that, under the transitional rules for contracts signed before 16 April 2021, a contract with no VAT clause is treated as VAT-inclusive.

The third is the payment schedule itself. Developers sell commercial units on the same milestone logic as residential ones. Central 7 asks for 20% on booking and quarterly instalments to completion, with the balance at handover as set out in the sale and purchase agreement. The table works an illustrative unit of OMR 100,000 ($260,080) through the charges above. The unit is hypothetical and is not a quote for any project.

Legal fees, any agent or developer administration charges and bank charges come on top and are quoted by the parties involved. The OMR 8,000 ($20,806) of registration charge and VAT in the table is a worked case, not a forecast for a particular project. Our article on property tax in Oman collects the recurring and one-off taxes in one place, and the guide to the Omani rial peg explains why the dollar figures above do not move with the exchange market.

Leasing, VAT on Rent and Office Rent Benchmarks

Owners of commercial property in Oman usually lease it, and leasing brings three layers of rules: VAT on the rent, municipal registration of the lease, and the rent level itself. On VAT, the Tax Authority guide as summarised by Deloitte treats commercial rent as standard-rated at 5%, with car parking rented separately also at 5%. Registration is mandatory once taxable turnover reaches OMR 38,500 ($100,131) over a rolling 12-month period, and voluntary registration is possible from OMR 19,250 ($50,065), according to Deloitte’s Oman Highlights; a non-resident making taxable supplies to unregistered customers in Oman must register regardless of value. For a lease of OMR 12,000 ($31,210) a year, VAT at 5% is OMR 600 ($1,560) charged on top where the landlord is registered, and a single such lease sits below the mandatory threshold on its own.

Lease registration is separate from VAT. In February 2022 a Muscat Municipality spokesperson told Oman Observer that the landlord must register the tenancy agreement with the municipality, that a fixed tax of 3% is payable, and that an agreement not registered, renewed or taxed within one month of signing or expiry is treated as void before government authorities, with a fine of three times the fixed tax. Muscat Daily’s list of the municipality’s tenancy terms states the 3% as a percentage of monthly rent, cites Royal Decree 6/89, and lists a three-month notice period for vacating and a requirement for the landlord’s written approval before subletting. Our guide to renting out your Oman property from abroad covers the residential side of letting.

On rent levels, the only published benchmark we found with 2026 figures is Savills’ Oman Property Market report. Savills reported on 29 April 2026 that the Muscat office market was stable across key submarkets in the first quarter, with rents of OMR 2.0 per square metre per month in the central business district, OMR 3.5 in Qurum, OMR 4.5 in Al Khuwair and OMR 6.0 in Shatti Al Qurum. For the second quarter, Muscat Daily reported on 29 July 2026 that central business district and Qurum rents were unchanged while Ghubrah and Azaiba rose 4%. The table applies the first-quarter benchmarks to the smallest and largest offices at Dar Muscat Hills. The benchmarks describe other districts and say nothing about Muscat Hills or Knowledge Oasis Muscat, so the arithmetic below is a way to read the scale of rents, not a forecast of income.

The steps are simple: area × monthly rent per square metre × 12. For the 61.46 m² office at OMR 3.5, that is 61.46 × 3.5 × 12 = OMR 2,581. VAT of 5% would add OMR 129 on that rent where the landlord charges it. The sources above give no retail rent benchmark, so the table covers offices only. Our article on rental yields in Oman covers residential yield arithmetic; it does not cover shops or offices.

Taxes on Owning Commercial Property in Oman

Deloitte’s Oman Highlights (January 2023) records no real property tax, no transfer tax, stamp duty only on the acquisition of real estate at 3% of the sales value, no net wealth tax and no inheritance or estate tax. For companies it records a corporate tax rate of 15% for all businesses, including branches and permanent establishments of foreign companies, with a 3% rate for small companies as defined, and states that capital gains from the sale of fixed assets are taxed at the ordinary rates. A company that holds a shop or office is therefore inside the corporate tax regime on its taxable income, which is gross income after allowable expenses. At the date of that publication neither residents nor non-residents paid income or capital gains tax as individuals.

That changes on 1 January 2028. Royal Decree 56/2025 was issued on 22 June 2025 and published in the Official Gazette on 30 June 2025, and it introduces a personal income tax of 5% on net taxable income above OMR 42,000 ($109,234) a year, according to KPMG’s July 2025 alert. The taxable sources include renting and leasing of immovable and movable property, and capital gains including gains on real estate. For rental income, KPMG records a deductible cost of 15% of total income or the actual expenses incurred in earning it, with an election between the fixed and actual deduction every three years, and notes that recoverable input VAT on expenses is not deductible. Tax residents, defined as those present more than 183 days in a tax year, are taxed on worldwide income, and non-residents on Oman-sourced income.

KPMG’s list of exemptions includes the proceeds from the disposal of a primary residence after two years from notifying the authorities, and the proceeds from the disposal of a secondary residence once. A shop or an office is neither of those, so a gain on a commercial unit falls under the capital gains source as listed. An illustration shows the rental mechanics. Suppose an individual has OMR 60,000 ($156,048) of gross rent in a year and no other income. The 15% fixed deduction is OMR 9,000 ($23,407), leaving OMR 51,000 ($132,641). The amount above OMR 42,000 is OMR 9,000, and 5% of that is OMR 450 ($1,170). Other deductions, other income and the executive regulations may change the result for a real taxpayer. Our Oman real estate market outlook and the guide to selling property in Oman describe how these rules enter an exit plan.

Buying Off-Plan Commercial Units Under Royal Decree 79/2025

Most commercial units on our pages are sold before completion, which puts them under the national real estate law, Royal Decree 79/2025. It was published in Official Gazette 1613 on 14 September 2025 and comes into force 180 days after publication, which places the start in mid-March 2026; BSA Law gives 10 March 2026. According to BSA Law’s summary, a developer needs a prior licence before starting a project, off-plan units must be registered, each project must have an independent escrow account in its own name into which buyer payments are deposited, withdrawals are restricted according to approved construction phases, brokers and marketers must hold a ministry licence and be on a national register, and violations carry administrative and criminal penalties including licence revocation. The decree’s Article III repeals the earlier escrow system (Royal Decree 30/2018), the brokerage law (Royal Decree 78/86) and the apartments and floors ownership system (Royal Decree 48/89).

The decree’s wording is general, and BSA Law’s article does not single out commercial units. The provisions are written around projects and units, so a buyer of a shop or office in an off-plan building can reasonably ask the same questions a residential buyer asks. Our guide to Royal Decree 79/2025, the article on the off-plan marketing threshold and the step-by-step off-plan process cover the sequence in detail, and they apply to a commercial unit in the same way as to a home.

In special economic zones and free zones the parallel rules are in Royal Decree 38/2025: an escrow account under Article 43, OPAZ approval before advertising under Article 47 and delivery on the agreed date under Article 46. The checklist below pulls the documents together for a commercial unit, whichever route applies.

The checklist is a reading aid. It does not replace review by an Omani lawyer, and each project may add documents of its own.

Market Context for Commercial Real Estate in Oman

National figures describe the whole property market rather than commercial property alone. The National Centre for Statistics and Information, as reported by Oman Observer on 29 July 2026, recorded total real estate transactions of OMR 1.43 billion ($3.72 billion) in the first half of 2026, up 5.4% on the same period of 2025. Sales contract value rose 12.2% to OMR 688 million ($1.79 billion) across 34,017 transactions, up 6.9%, while mortgage value was flat at OMR 740.2 million ($1.92 billion) and property titles issued fell 8% to 101,700. Savills reported transaction values of OMR 678 million ($1.76 billion) by the end of March 2026, up 18.4%, and Muscat Daily reported real estate foreign direct investment of OMR 602.5 million ($1.57 billion) at the end of the first quarter, up 1.2%. None of these releases splits commercial from residential deals.

The Knowledge Oasis Muscat figures offer a narrower reading. Using the area figures in Oman Observer’s April 2026 report, 381,312 m² leased out of 494,832 m² leasable is about 77% (381,312 ÷ 494,832 = 0.771), and 2025 added over 21,000 m² of new leasing. Those figures describe the estate’s leasing, not the resale or rental value of any unit in Central 7. Savills also pointed in its second-quarter report to the ports of Salalah, Duqm and Suhar lying outside the Strait of Hormuz as a supporting factor for demand for warehousing, logistics facilities and commercial real estate, per Muscat Daily; that is Savills’ view of long-term demand and carries no figures for rents or occupancy.

For a buyer, the practical use of these numbers is calibration. The market data show activity and rent levels in established Muscat submarkets, while the projects on our pages sit in newer locations: Madinat Al Irfan, where the commercial space is part of mixed-use schemes, and the Rusayl technology park. The comparison of price, size and handover timing in the tables above is the part that can be checked unit by unit against the sale and purchase agreement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a foreigner buy an office in Oman?

For commercial property in Oman, a non-Omani can own a built unit or plot inside an ITC for accommodation or investment purposes under Ministerial Decision 191/2007, and Royal Decree 38/2025 lets licensed developers in special economic zones and free zones sell units to non-Omanis as freehold. Offices are listed among real estate units in the latter law. Whether a particular office qualifies depends on the title category recorded for it, which the sale and purchase agreement and the land registry extract show.

Can a foreigner buy a shop in Oman?

Shops follow the same routes as offices. The Pearl Muscat Hills listing states that its 37 shop units are sold on full freehold title to buyers of any nationality, and notes that Muscat Hills is a designated ITC, while Dar Muscat Hills lists 15 shops and says the title category for foreign buyers is in the developer’s sales documents. Commercial property in Oman is therefore bought unit by unit, with the tenure checked for each building.

Does buying commercial property in Oman give residency?

Not by itself. Commercial property in Oman is linked to residency only through defined routes: the Golden Residency real estate route requires a single ITC property worth at least OMR 200,000 ($520,160), decided by the Royal Oman Police, and the programme summary lists residential, commercial or tourism units in an ITC with a valid title deed. The Owner Visa under Royal Oman Police Decision 87/2026 has no minimum value, is sponsor-free, is tied to ownership and ends if the property is transferred; the reports describe it in terms of units and construction plots, so the certificate for the named unit is the document to obtain.

Is VAT charged on commercial property in Oman?

According to the Tax Authority real estate guide as summarised by Deloitte, the sale and renting of commercial property in Oman is standard-rated at 5%, whereas the resale and rental of residential property are exempt. On a unit of OMR 100,000 ($260,080), 5% is OMR 5,000 ($13,004) where the price excludes VAT. The sale and purchase agreement states whether the price is inclusive.

Is there an annual property tax on commercial property in Oman?

For commercial property in Oman, Deloitte’s January 2023 Oman Highlights records no real property tax and a 3% stamp duty on the acquisition of real estate. From 1 January 2028 individuals will pay personal income tax at 5% above OMR 42,000 ($109,234) on net income that includes rent, and the list of taxable sources also includes gains on real estate.

Does commercial property in Oman need an Omani company?

Not in the ITC and zone routes, where non-Omani individuals and companies may buy. A company route exists as well: the Foreign Capital Investment Law, Royal Decree 50/2019, allows foreign investors to own Omani companies, and our Central 7 listing lists ownership through an Omani-registered company among the available routes. A company that holds a unit is taxed under the corporate regime at 15%, per Deloitte.

What do the Dar Muscat Hills shops and offices cost?

Our listing page shows price on request for all 15 shops and 4 offices. It does state the areas: shops from 28.98 to 55.35 m² (average 40.47 m²) and offices from 61.46 to 152.52 m² (average 115.06 m²), with a developer target of the beginning of December 2029 for handover. Prices and payment terms are provided with the reservation documents.

When is Central 7 due to be handed over?

The developer’s target is the fourth quarter of 2026, per our listing page, with 20% payable on booking and quarterly instalments until completion. The completion certificate, the unit registration and the dated schedule in the sale and purchase agreement are the documents that show whether and when a specific unit is delivered.

How is money protected when buying an off-plan commercial unit?

For off-plan commercial property in Oman, Royal Decree 79/2025 requires each project to have an independent escrow account, with buyer payments deposited into it and withdrawals restricted according to approved construction phases, according to BSA Law. In a special economic zone, Royal Decree 38/2025 has the same escrow requirement in Article 43. The buyer’s check is that payments go to the named project account.

What rent do offices in Muscat command?

Savills reported first-quarter 2026 office rents of OMR 2.0 ($5.20) per square metre per month in the central business district, OMR 3.5 ($9.10) in Qurum, OMR 4.5 ($11.70) in Al Khuwair and OMR 6.0 ($15.60) in Shatti Al Qurum. Those are district benchmarks and do not describe rents in Muscat Hills or Knowledge Oasis Muscat.

Last checked: 16 October 2026. Sources: Royal Decree 38/2025 (OPAZ); Oman Observer, freehold ownership in SEZs (18 June 2025); KPMG Oman, SEZ and free zones law; Times of Oman, Regulation 81/2026; Muscat Daily, Regulation 81/2026; Times of Oman, ITC legal framework (25 July 2026); GLMM, Ministerial Decision 191/2007; Curtis Oman Law Blog, corporate ownership of land; Trowers & Hamlins, Ministerial Decision 357/2020; Oman Observer, ownership rules (9 March 2022); Oman Observer, The Pearl Muscat (11 July 2018); Middle East Briefing, Golden Residency; Gulf News, Golden Residency; Oman Observer, Owner Visa (25 June 2026); Muscat Daily, Decision 87/2026; Deloitte, Oman Tax Authority real estate VAT guide; Deloitte, Oman Highlights 2023; KPMG, Oman personal income tax law; Oman Observer, tenancy registration (15 February 2022); Muscat Daily, Muscat Municipality tenancy terms; Savills, Oman property market Q1 2026; Muscat Daily, Savills Q2 2026; Oman Observer, NCSI first-half 2026 transactions; Oman Observer, Knowledge Oasis Muscat (18 April 2026); Invest-Gate, Wujha launch (17 September 2025); Daily News Egypt, Wujha launch; BSA Law, Royal Decree 79/2025; decree.om, Royal Decree 79/2025.