Muscat Bay Oman: Projects, Prices and Ownership (2026)

Muscat Bay Oman: Projects, Prices and Ownership (2026)

This guide was checked on 24 October 2026 and covers Muscat Bay Oman, the resort community at Bandar Jissah on the Gulf of Oman coast south-east of the capital. It draws on the developer’s website, press coverage from Gulf News, the Oman Observer, Times of Oman and The National, the hotel operators’ announcements, the text of Royal Decree 79/2025, and the prices, sizes, handover dates, payment plans and service charges on our listing pages for the completed Muscat Bay homes, Zen Residences, Luma Residence and the neighbouring Al Mina project.

By the end you will know who owns and develops Muscat Bay Oman, how the master plan and its phases fit together, what each of the four products costs per square metre, how the payment plans work out in shown arithmetic, what the service charges come to in rials a year, and which units reach the Golden Residency threshold or only the Owner Visa. Prices are in Omani rials with US dollars in brackets, at the peg of 2.6008 dollars to the rial, and they are the figures on each listing page on 24 October 2026.

What Muscat Bay Oman Is and Where It Sits

Muscat Bay is a master-planned resort village at Bandar Jissah, a cove between the Hajar mountains and the Gulf of Oman, near the fishing settlement of Qantab. According to Wikipedia and the developer’s 2019 announcement in the Oman Observer, the development covers about 2.2 million square metres. The developer’s own site, muscatbay.com, places it 20 minutes from downtown Muscat, and The National’s report on the hotel opening puts the cove about 15 minutes from the capital. Our listing pages give longer drive times to specific destinations, set out in the distance table further down.

Muscat Bay Oman is designated an Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC), the category created under Royal Decree 12/2006 in which non-Omanis may hold freehold title to a unit. Our guide to freehold property in Oman explains the mechanism, and the comparison of Oman’s Integrated Tourism Complexes sets the Bandar Jissah community beside the other freehold addresses. The community was called Saraya Bandar Jissah until April 2017, when it was renamed Muscat Bay. Older articles use the earlier name, so a search for either brings up the same place.

One point of geography prevents a common mix-up. Barr Al Jissah, the resort with the Hilton-branded hotels and the Al Mina marina residences, is the neighbouring destination on the same bay. It has a different owner and a different developer. The Al Mina project appears in this guide because buyers compare it with Muscat Bay, but it is not a Muscat Bay product, and the developer profile on our site keeps the two apart.

Who Develops and Owns Muscat Bay Oman

The master developer is Saraya Bandar Jissah, an Omani company formed in 2007 that trades as Muscat Bay. Gulf News described it in 2018 as a joint venture between OMRAN and Saraya Holding Oman, and the 2019 Oman Observer announcement names the same two partners. OMRAN is the Omani government’s tourism development company; its own website says it was established in 2005. Saraya Oman is a subsidiary of Saraya Holdings. The sources used here give no percentage split between the two shareholders, so none is shown.

The company profile on our site, Muscat Bay in the developer directory, and the profile of OMRAN Group give the ownership background, and the full list of Omani developers is in the developers hub. Our developer guide explains how OMRAN appears as a partner in several projects but as the sole developer of none of them.

Three more names matter inside the bay, and they are separate companies:

• Zen Development and Investment, an Omani company, builds Zen Residences. Times of Oman reported its launch on 13 March 2024, describing the project as the company’s first. Our Zen Development profile covers it.
• Jumeirah Group operates the hotel, Jumeirah Muscat Bay, which opened on or about 30 June 2022 as the group’s first property in Oman.
• Barr Al Jissah, owned according to a Hilton announcement by the Zubair Corporation, sits next door and builds Al Mina. See the Barr Al Jissah profile.

The Master Plan, Neighbourhoods and Phases

The first public plan, reported by the Oman Observer when the name changed in 2017, was for 435 residences. The first phase was announced as complete in the second quarter of 2019 with 255 homes: 22 villas on the Wajd hilltop, 33 island villas at Nameer beside a man-made lagoon, and 200 residences at Zaha. The developer said at the time that the 435 would sit in five freehold areas open to all nationalities. A Gulf News report from November 2018 said the master plan had been finalised in 2012, that phase one had launched in the third quarter of 2014 with 260 units, and that the total investment was about $600 million (Dh2.2 billion).

The developer’s current site lists the community as a set of neighbourhoods, and our Muscat Bay listing page names seven: Zaha Waterfront Residences (apartments), Zaha Waterfront Villas, Zaha Parkland Residences (apartments), Zaha Parkland Villas, Zaha Duplexes (three-bedroom penthouses), Nameer Island Villas (three and four bedrooms) and Wajd Grand Hilltop Villas (five bedrooms). The developer’s site groups them under lifestyle labels such as Aqua Life for waterfront villas, Park Life for parkland villas, Sky Life for the penthouse, Island Life for Nameer and Sensorial Life for Wajd.

The 435-home figure belongs to the 2017 to 2019 plan. Luma Residence, launched in January 2026, and Zen Residences, launched in March 2024, are later additions with their own counts, so the community’s total is larger than the original plan, and the sources used here give no single updated total.

Muscat Bay Oman Timeline From 2007 to 2029

A dated sequence is the quickest way to see how the community moved from a plan to a place people live in. The table lists each milestone with the source that reported it, and the later rows show what is still under construction as of 24 October 2026.

Two things follow from the timeline. First, the completed part of the community has had seven years of occupation since the first handovers, so the resale record is real; our listing page marks the completed homes as available on the primary and secondary market, and our guide to selling property in Oman covers how an exit works. Second, two products are still being built, and their delivery dates sit in 2027 and 2029. The handover calendar places those dates beside the other Omani projects.

The Four Products Compared on Our Listing Pages

Muscat Bay Oman offers one finished product and two under construction, with Al Mina next door as the marina alternative. The comparison below uses only the figures on our listing pages: entry price in rials, the size of that entry unit, the derived price per square metre, the handover state and the share of the price due before handover.

The arithmetic behind the per-square-metre column is simple division. The Muscat Bay one-bedroom at OMR 90,011 over 79 square metres is OMR 1,139 per square metre. The Zen two-bedroom at OMR 137,996 over 128 square metres is OMR 1,078. The Luma apartment at OMR 115,541 over 113 square metres is OMR 1,022, and the Al Mina one-bedroom at OMR 184,251 over 115 square metres is OMR 1,602. Our wider ranking of Oman property prices per square metre puts these figures beside 29 other projects.

Inside the bay, the finished apartments cost more per square metre than the ones under construction. On the listing pages the Muscat Bay two-bedroom is $309 per square foot, against $260 at Zen and $248 at Luma, which is a gap of about 19 percent over Zen and 25 percent over Luma. For villas the completed Muscat Bay home is $269 per square foot and the Luma villa is $217, a gap of about 24 percent. The gap reflects timing and specification as much as location, since a finished home can be inspected and an off-plan one is a drawing.

Completed Homes: The Muscat Bay Listing

The Muscat Bay listing covers the finished homes. Per the page, 15 are available on 24 October 2026. The entry prices are $234,100 (OMR 90,011) for a one-bedroom of 850 square feet (79 square metres), $382,000 (OMR 146,878) for a two-bedroom of 1,238 square feet (115 square metres) and $897,000 (OMR 344,894) for a villa of 3,330 square feet (309 square metres). A home of 8,181 square feet (760 square metres) is listed without a price. The page records a build year of 2024 and describes the homes as ready to move into.

The villas are two-storey houses with a private courtyard, a sunbathing terrace and a pool, according to the page, and the Zaha Duplexes have private gardens and pools. Residents’ facilities listed on the page include a health club, gym, swimming pools, an amphitheatre, a children’s area and a landscaped park, together with a Village Square of restaurants, cafés, shops and a supermarket. Payment is either cash or instalments over three or five years, depending on the lot. The page gives no deposit figure, so none is assumed here.

The page’s straight-line instalment estimates illustrate the scale. A one-bedroom at $234,100 over five years is $234,100 divided by 60 months, or $3,902 a month, and over three years it is $6,503 a month. The two-bedroom at $382,000 is about $6,367 a month over five years. These are the page’s own division of the price, not a contractual schedule, and the lot’s actual terms are in the sale agreement.

For buyers weighing a finished home against an off-plan one, our guide to villa versus apartment in Oman sets out the fee and residency differences by unit type, and the snagging guide explains what to check when a home is handed over.

Off-Plan Homes in and Beside Muscat Bay Oman

Zen Residences: Five Buildings, Fixed Calendar Payments

The Zen Residences listing describes five low-rise buildings, labelled Z1 to Z5, with 80 homes between the ground and third floors plus loft levels above. Thirteen were available on 24 October 2026, so about 84 percent were taken. The developer’s data sheet gives a handover target of Q1 2027, and the contractual date is set in the sale and purchase agreement for each home. According to the page, the main contractor was appointed on 17 May 2024 and construction began on 27 August 2024.

Prices on the main text of the page are $358,900 (about OMR 137,996) for a two-bedroom of 1,378 square feet (128 square metres) and $478,500 (about OMR 183,982) for a three-bedroom of 1,830 square feet (170 square metres). Both work out at roughly $260 per square foot, because the page describes a flat rate per square foot regardless of size. Studios, one-bedrooms and lofts are listed on enquiry.

The payment plan runs on fixed calendar months rather than months counted from booking. For the two-bedroom at $358,900 the steps are:

• 2.5 percent at reservation: $358,900 times 0.025 is $8,973.
• 17.5 percent at signing of the sale agreement: $62,808.
• 20 percent in December 2026: $71,780.
• 15 percent in each of March, June, September and December 2027: $53,835 each.

By a Q1 2027 handover the buyer has paid the first three steps plus the March 2027 instalment, which is 2.5 + 17.5 + 20 + 15 = 55 percent, or $197,395 (about OMR 75,897). The remaining 45 percent, $161,505 (about OMR 62,099), falls due in three payments after handover. Because the dates are fixed, a buyer who reserves late still faces the December 2026 instalment of 20 percent at once, which is why the reservation date matters more here than at a plan that counts from booking.

Luma Residence: 240 Homes and a 50 Percent Handover Payment

Luma is the newest addition. Muscat Daily reported the launch on 13 January 2026 with an investment of about OMR 20 million and 240 freehold homes across 37,000 square metres of built-up area, and it reported financing agreements signed at the launch, including one with Ahli Bank. Our Luma Residence listing splits the 240 into 156 apartments, 52 townhouses and 32 villas, with 43 available on 24 October 2026, which is about 82 percent taken. The handover target is Q1 2029 per the sales material.

Prices start at $300,500 (OMR 115,541) for a two-bedroom apartment of 1,211 square feet (113 square metres), $568,400 (OMR 218,548) for a townhouse of 2,607 square feet (242 square metres) and $650,200 (OMR 250,000) for a three-bedroom villa of 2,997 square feet (278 square metres). The per-square-metre figures are OMR 1,022 for the apartment, OMR 903 for the townhouse and OMR 899 for the villa.

The plan has eight instalments counted from the booking date. For the apartment at $300,500:

• 2.5 percent on booking, $7,513, and 7.5 percent 15 days later at signing, $22,538.
• 5 percent at 6 months and 5 percent at 12 months, $15,025 each.
• 10 percent each at completion of the substructure, the superstructure and the engineering systems, $30,050 each.
• 50 percent at completion and handover, $150,250.

The first twelve months therefore cost 2.5 + 7.5 + 5 + 5 = 20 percent, or $60,100 (about OMR 23,108). The three construction-stage payments add 30 percent, and the final 50 percent at handover is $150,250, which is about OMR 57,768 at the peg. A buyer needs the balance in hand at handover, so the mortgage and money-transfer questions in our guides to mortgages for foreigners in Oman and Oman payment plans compared apply to this last step.

Al Mina at Barr Al Jissah: The Marina Neighbour

Al Mina is the current phase of Barr Al Jissah, a resort of 450,000 square metres according to its own site. The Al Mina listing describes 76 homes in six low-rise buildings along a marina, with 41 available on 24 October 2026. The Oman Observer reported on 5 January 2026 that the development was about 65 percent complete with a Q4 2026 completion target; the listing page gives Q1 2027 as the handover per the developer. The 2017 Oman Observer announcement counted 69 homes at that earlier stage.

The marina is the feature that Muscat Bay does not have. Per the listing page it has 55 berths for vessels up to 40 metres, an average depth of about 5 metres, a breakwater, water and electricity at each berth, a fuel station and 24-hour mooring assistance, and berth allocation, lease or purchase terms are settled outside the home contract. Our guide to marina property in Oman compares the berths across six communities.

Starting prices on the page are $479,200 (OMR 184,251) for a one-bedroom of 115 square metres, $776,900 (OMR 298,716) for a two-bedroom of 165 square metres, $966,100 (OMR 371,463) for a three-bedroom of 218 square metres, $1,868,200 (OMR 718,317) for a penthouse of 281 square metres and $4,183,000 (OMR 1,608,351) for a beachfront villa of 589 square metres. The payment plan is 20 percent plus a flat OMR 10,000 as a down payment, then five instalments of 16 percent, with the whole price paid before completion into a project escrow account under Royal Decree 79/2025.

The two-bedroom shows the arithmetic. Twenty percent of $776,900 is $155,380; adding OMR 10,000, which is $26,008, gives a down payment of $181,388. Each 16 percent instalment is $124,304, and five of them are $621,520. The payments then add up to $802,908, which is the list price plus the flat OMR 10,000. That is 100 percent of the price paid before handover, in contrast to the 50 percent at Luma and 55 percent at Zen.

The hotels beside Al Mina were run by Shangri-La from the resort’s opening in 2006 until the end of 2025. A Hilton announcement dated 5 January 2026 says Hilton now operates three hotels at Barr Al Jissah: Al Husn Hotel Muscat with 180 rooms, Hilton Muscat Al Bandar with 198 rooms and DoubleTree by Hilton Muscat Al Waha with 302 rooms, a total of 680. The same announcement says Al Husn is due to become a Waldorf Astoria after renovations planned for 2027.

Service Charges at Muscat Bay Oman in Rials a Year

Service charges are the yearly fees an owners’ association or operator bills for maintaining shared areas. The rates below are those stated on our listing pages in rials per square metre per year, and each annual figure is the rate multiplied by the unit’s size on the page. Our guide to service charges in Oman real estate explains what the fee covers and what is billed separately.

The worked figures: the Muscat Bay one-bedroom is 79 square metres times OMR 8.72, which is about OMR 689 a year, or 0.77 percent of its OMR 90,011 price. The villa is 309 square metres times OMR 6.01, about OMR 1,857, or 0.54 percent of OMR 344,894. At Luma the apartment is 113 times OMR 8.27, about OMR 935, and the villa is 278 times OMR 6.27, about OMR 1,743. At Al Mina the rate is OMR 8 per square metre of gross area excluding balconies and terraces, which gives OMR 920 for the one-bedroom and OMR 4,712 for the villa.

A buyer should note that the fee falls as a share of price when the unit is larger, because the villa rate is lower than the apartment rate and the price per square metre is higher. It is also paid every year for the life of ownership, so over five years the Muscat Bay one-bedroom accumulates about OMR 3,445 in service charges alone.

Muscat Bay Oman Residency: Golden Residency and Owner Visa by Unit

Two residency routes are tied to property. The Golden Residency requires a single ITC property worth at least OMR 200,000 (about $520,160), and the Royal Oman Police decides each application. The Owner Visa, introduced by Royal Oman Police Decision 87/2026 and reported by Gulf News on 22 June 2026, needs no sponsor, is tied to ownership and has no minimum value; the permit ends automatically if the property’s ownership is transferred. Our comparison of Golden Residency versus the Owner Visa sets the two side by side, and the guide to residency for family dependants covers relatives.

Against that threshold the entry prices in the bay split as shown in the table. Two smaller purchases are not added together, so a buyer holding a OMR 137,996 Zen two-bedroom and a OMR 115,541 Luma apartment, which total OMR 253,537, would not meet the single-property condition, while a single Luma townhouse at OMR 218,548 would.

The table shows the gap in each case. The Muscat Bay villa clears the threshold by OMR 144,894 and the Luma villa by OMR 50,000, while the Zen three-bedroom is OMR 16,018 short and the Al Mina one-bedroom OMR 15,749 short. A unit that falls below the threshold can still support an Owner Visa application, which is a separate route with a separate set of conditions. Prices change with release phases, so the test is the price on the contract for the specific unit.

Getting There: Distances and the Resort Context

Drive times differ between our listing pages because each measures from a different point in the bay, so the table gives each page’s figure for the same destination rather than a single number.

The Jumeirah Muscat Bay hotel is the main resort feature of the community. The National reported 206 rooms and suites, five new restaurants at opening, a Talise spa and a private shoreline. Muscat Bay’s own site lists a Residents Club among its hospitality offers, and our listing pages list a private beach and a health club, so the access terms for each facility are a document-reading item for any buyer.

Daily needs are close and schools are further. The Muscat Bay page lists a SPAR supermarket two minutes away and the Zen page lists one four minutes away, while the schools named on the pages sit 12 to 26 minutes away by car. Our guide to international schools in Muscat compares them by curriculum and fees.

Title, the Law and What to Check Before Signing

A buyer in an ITC acquires ownership of the unit. According to a July 2026 Times of Oman opinion piece on the legal framework for ITCs, the governing texts are Royal Decree 12/2006 as amended through Royal Decree 76/2010, and the executive regulation, Ministerial Decision 191/2007, as amended through Ministerial Decision 109/2022. Two first-degree relatives may jointly hold a unit. The same piece says a plot owner has four years from registration to build, which concerns land and not the apartments and homes covered here.

Off-plan purchases at Zen, Luma and Al Mina also fall under Royal Decree 79/2025, the real estate law. Decree.om records that it was issued on 10 September 2025, published in the Official Gazette on 14 September 2025 and enters into force 180 days after publication, which is about 13 March 2026. It repeals the 2018 escrow system and the 1989 apartments ownership system. Our explainer on Law 79/2025 for off-plan buyers and the guide to the off-plan marketing threshold cover what a developer must have in place before selling.

A short checklist applies to every purchase in the bay:

1. Ask for the title designation of the specific unit in writing, and confirm that the unit sits inside the ITC.
2. Read the payment schedule against the table above: fixed calendar dates at Zen, booking-based dates at Luma, a single large instalment pattern at Al Mina.
3. Ask for the service-charge rate for the unit, in rials per square metre, and whether it is billed annually, and request earlier invoices for a completed home.
4. Check where instalments are paid, since off-plan payments are meant to go to a project escrow account.
5. Take the handover date from the sale and purchase agreement, not from the brochure.

The steps of registering the title are covered in a separate guide on property registration in Oman, and the rights if a developer misses its date are in the article on developer delay in Oman.

Cost of Owning, Renting Out and Tax

Ownership costs in the bay are the service charge, utilities and any management fee. The guide to electricity and water bills in Oman covers utilities, and rent versus buy in Oman sets the cost of owning against renting. Our property tax guide covers the taxes that apply to buying and holding.

Personal income tax is a new item. Royal Decree 56/2025 sets 5 percent on income above OMR 42,000 a year from 1 January 2028, reported by Gulf News. An owner who lets a home from abroad should read our guide to renting out Oman property from abroad alongside the decree. For the licensing side of short-term letting, see can you Airbnb property in Oman.

Anyone considering holding the property through a company, or buying as a citizen of another Gulf state, will find the rules in the guides to buying through a company and GCC citizens buying property in Oman. Nothing in this guide is advice to buy, and prices, handover dates and rules on these pages can change.

Muscat Bay Oman Compared With Muscat Hills and Al Mouj

Muscat Bay is one of several Muscat-area ITCs that buyers set against each other. Muscat Hills is inland and golf-centred; our guide to Muscat Hills Oman covers it. Al Mouj is a larger waterfront community in Seeb with a working marina; see the Al Mouj Muscat guide.

The differences are of scale and stage rather than rank. Muscat Bay Oman is a single cove with a few hundred homes in the original plan, a finished first phase and one resort hotel, while the other two are larger and cover more property types. The wider selection of areas for a foreign buyer is in the guide to areas to buy property in Muscat, and the market outlook gives the national picture.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Muscat Bay Oman?

Muscat Bay Oman is a master-planned resort community at Bandar Jissah, south-east of Muscat, with an area of about 2.2 million square metres. It was called Saraya Bandar Jissah until April 2017 and is an Integrated Tourism Complex where non-Omanis can hold freehold title.

Who developed Muscat Bay Oman?

The master developer is Saraya Bandar Jissah, formed in 2007 as a partnership between OMRAN and Saraya Holding Oman. Zen Residences is built by Zen Development and Investment, a separate Omani company, and Al Mina belongs to the neighbouring Barr Al Jissah resort.

Can foreigners buy property in Muscat Bay Oman?

Yes. Our listing pages describe freehold title in the buyer’s name for all nationalities inside the ITC. The legal basis is Royal Decree 12/2006 as amended, and each purchase should be checked against the unit’s title designation.

Does buying in Muscat Bay Oman give residency?

Not by itself. The Golden Residency requires a single ITC property worth at least OMR 200,000, decided by the Royal Oman Police. The Owner Visa under Decision 87/2026 has no minimum value, needs no sponsor and ends if ownership is transferred.

Which Muscat Bay Oman homes reach the Golden Residency threshold?

On the entry prices of 24 October 2026, the completed villa at OMR 344,894, the Luma townhouse at OMR 218,548 and the Luma villa at OMR 250,000 are above OMR 200,000. The apartments at Muscat Bay, Zen and Luma are below it.

When will Zen Residences and Luma Residence be handed over?

The developer’s data sheet gives Q1 2027 for Zen Residences and the Luma sales material gives Q1 2029. The contractual date is the one in each sale and purchase agreement.

How much are service charges at Muscat Bay Oman?

Per our listing pages, the completed homes pay OMR 8.72 per square metre a year for apartments and OMR 6.01 for villas, and Luma pays OMR 8.27 and OMR 6.27. On a 79 square metre one-bedroom that is about OMR 689 a year.

Does Muscat Bay Oman have a marina?

No marina is described on the Muscat Bay listing, which has a lagoon at Nameer and a private beach. The Al Mina marina next door, in Barr Al Jissah, has 55 berths per our listing page.

How far is Muscat Bay Oman from Muscat and the airport?

The developer says 20 minutes from downtown. Our listing pages give 25 to 30 minutes to the city centre and 35 to 40 minutes to Muscat International Airport by car.

Is the Muscat Bay Oman price the same as the Al Mina price?

No. The Muscat Bay two-bedroom starts at OMR 146,878 against OMR 298,716 at Al Mina, and Al Mina requires the full price before handover while Luma needs 50 percent.

Last checked: 24 October 2026. Sources: Muscat Bay; Gulf News, 2018; Oman Observer, 2017; Oman Observer, 2019; Times of Oman, 2021; The National, 2022; Wikipedia; Muscat Daily, 2026; Times of Oman, 2024; Oman Observer, Al Mina; Oman Observer, 2017; Hilton; Barr Al Jissah; Times of Oman, ITC law; Decree.om, RD 79/2025; Gulf News, Owner Visa; Gulf News, income tax; OMRAN.