Raya, Jebel Sifah, Oman — Wellness & Majlis Villas with Private Pools

Raya is a collection of two-storey villas inside Jebel Sifah, the marina-and-golf community that Muriya has been building on Oman’s northern coast since 2006. Every villa has two or three bedrooms, a private pool and a walled terrace garden — and one feature that nothing else in our Oman portfolio offers: a second, detached building on your own plot.

That pavilion is the whole idea. You choose between two versions of the same house. The Wellness villa puts a private spa in the garden pavilion — a wellness studio, a jacuzzi and a sauna. The Majlis villa puts a traditional majlis there instead, a self-contained room for receiving guests and family. Read the floor plans side by side and the point becomes obvious: the main house is identical in both. You are not choosing a layout, you are choosing what stands beside it.

Prices start at OMR 189,200 — about $492,100 for a villa from 1,690 sq ft, with handover in Q4 2027. Only four villas remain, and the entry price sits just OMR 10,800 below Oman’s Golden Residency threshold — the closest near-miss of any project we cover, and one with a straightforward way around it.

Raya at a glance

Wellness or Majlis: what actually differs

This is the decision that defines the purchase, and the marketing material describes it only in general terms. The floor plans are far more specific.

Because the houses are the same, the choice is unusually clean: a sauna and jacuzzi, or a reception room. In Oman that is not a small distinction. A majlis is the room where guests are received and where extended family gathers, and having it detached from the house — with its own entrance, away from the bedrooms — is exactly how it is traditionally used. For an owner who entertains, the Majlis villa is the more useful building. For an owner who does not, the Wellness pavilion adds a spa that would otherwise be a shared facility.

Ask which of the four remaining villas are which. With such a small number left, the pavilion type and the bedroom count come as a package, and the pairing you want may not be among them.

Inside the main house

Two details deserve highlighting because neither appears in the sales copy.

Every bedroom has both a walk-in closet and its own bathroom. In a two-bedroom villa that means two full en-suites and no shared bathroom between family members — a specification usually reserved for larger, more expensive houses.

There is a maid’s room with a private bathroom. For the Omani and wider Gulf market this is close to essential and its absence is a common complaint about imported apartment designs. Raya includes it as standard in a two-bedroom villa, which tells you the plans were drawn for how people actually live here.

What is installed at handover

This matters more than it sounds. Across the rest of our Oman coverage, the kitchen appliance schedule is the single most common gap — specifications describe cabinetry and worktops and stop. Raya states explicitly that lighting, kitchen appliances and plumbing fixtures are already installed, leaving only furniture. That is a materially more complete handover, and it removes a five-figure post-completion cost that buyers elsewhere routinely underestimate.

Get the schedule in writing anyway — “appliances installed” should be an itemised list with brands, not a phrase.

Amenities

Note the slight oddity: Wellness villas have a spa pavilion on the plot and the scheme has a shared wellness centre. Clarify what the communal one contains and whether its cost sits in the service charge — if you have bought a Wellness villa you may be paying for a facility you will rarely use.

Payment plan

Ten quarterly payments of 7.5% plus the 10% booking deposit total 85%, leaving 15% retained until you take the keys. That retention is your only real leverage on snagging and late delivery — do not let it be negotiated away.

Raya sits mid-table — better than its own neighbour Olive Farms, which retains nothing. Still, route every instalment to the project’s escrow account and secure a written remedy if Q4 2027 moves. Our guide to buying off-plan property in Oman explains how escrow works here.

What each instalment costs

Residency: OMR 10,800 short — and how that is bridged

This is the most consequential section on the page for anyone buying with residency in mind.

OMR 10,800 is roughly $28,000 — a gap of about 5.7% on the entry villa. Every other project we cover misses this threshold by a wide margin or clears it comfortably. Raya is the only one that lands within touching distance, which changes the conversation entirely.

The practical implication is straightforward. The range runs from 1,690 sq ft up to 1,970 sq ft, and price scales with size. A villa at the top of that range would need to be priced only modestly above the entry figure to clear OMR 200,000. So the question to put to the developer is precise: is any of the four remaining villas priced at or above OMR 200,000? If one is, the Golden Residency route opens without changing project — and that is worth far more than the price difference to a buyer who wants ten-year renewable residency.

If none of the four clears it, the Owner Visa introduced by Royal Oman Police Decision No. 87/2026 remains available: sponsor-free, granted on a certificate from the competent authority, no minimum property value, six months to a year and renewable, stays of up to three months per entry, extending to a spouse and first-degree relatives, and lapsing if you sell. Our guide, Golden Residency vs the new Owner Visa, sets out both. Take advice against your specific villa and price rather than the headline figure.

Three numbers in the source data that do not agree

The published material contains internal contradictions worth surfacing rather than quietly averaging.

Two corrections to the brochure

The golf error understates a genuine asset — an 18-hole championship course five minutes from your gate is a stronger amenity than a nine-hole one. Tee times and rates are at Jebel Sifah Golf. The brochure also credits Muriya with “over 33 years of experience”; that is Orascom Development’s record, dating from El Gouna in 1989. Muriya is the younger Omani joint venture through which Orascom and Omran operate here.

Service charge: not published

The data sheet says the service charge is clarified per unit on request. On a villa with a private pool, a private pavilion and a garden, plus shared facilities and the wider Jebel Sifah master community, there are potentially three cost layers: your own villa’s upkeep, the Raya scheme charge, and the ITC master-community charge.

Ask for the scheme and master-community figures separately, in OMR per m² per year, and confirm whether the pool and pavilion maintenance sit inside the service charge or fall to you. Our guide to service charges in Oman real estate explains what these fees normally cover.

The developer: Muriya

The 30% government shareholding is the part worth weighing: it aligns the destination with national tourism policy rather than one company’s balance sheet. Muriya publishes its portfolio at muriya.om; the group’s figures are at orascomdh.com.

The best diligence is a site visit. Jebel Sifah has been handing over homes for well over a decade — you can walk finished streets, use the marina, play the course and eat at the restaurants before committing.

What else is inside Jebel Sifah

The developer’s own community masterplan numbers fourteen components. Raya is one of them, and knowing the others tells you what your service charge is funding and what your guests will actually use.

Two beach clubs, not one. The Bank Beach Club sits alongside the better-known Dunes Beach Club, and there is a dedicated driving range separate from the course itself. The full picture is in our complete guide to Jebel Sifah, and the neighbouring schemes are worth comparing directly: Solaris, Olive Farms, The Beachfront and Jebel Sifah land plots.

Location and travel times

A clinic two minutes away and a supermarket at three is the quiet strength of this location: Jebel Sifah is reached by one road, and having primary care and daily shopping inside the gates is what makes it workable rather than merely scenic. Golf and the marina are both five minutes, which suits Raya’s profile — this is a villa for people who use the community, not just look at it.

Where Raya sits on price

The comparison that does the work here is the last row against the fourth. Al Mina’s one-bedroom apartment is $479,200; Raya’s two-bedroom villa is $492,100. For roughly $13,000 more you move from a 1,238 sq ft flat to a two-storey house with two en-suite bedrooms, a maid’s room, a private pool, a walled garden and a detached spa or majlis pavilion.

Raya is the second most expensive villa in our Oman portfolio after Luma — but at $291 per square foot it is cheaper per foot than every apartment priced above it. That is the shape of the Omani coast: land is not what costs money, position and community are.

Who Raya suits — and who it does not

Freehold ownership

Jebel Sifah is an Integrated Tourism Complex, the designation under which Oman permits foreign freehold ownership. Title registers in the buyer’s name, is inheritable, and can be sold on the open market to any nationality. A villa on its own plot is the cleanest form of that title — you own land, not a share of a building — and ITC property is the category that counts toward the Golden Residency threshold, which matters here more than usual.

How the zones work is set out in our guide to freehold property and the ITC system in Oman, and our ITC comparison sets Jebel Sifah against the alternatives.

Rental demand and exit

Raya rents into a market that already exists. Jebel Sifah has an operating hotel, restaurants, a marina, a golf course and two beach clubs today, and draws weekenders from Muscat year-round. A two-storey villa with a private pool, a walled garden and a spa or majlis pavilion is a scarce holiday-let product — the community’s apartment stock cannot match it, and the pavilion is a genuine differentiator in listings.

The maid’s room matters commercially too: it lets a family group travel with staff, which widens the tenant pool at the top of the market. Current ranges are in our Oman rental yields guide.

Settle the short-let question before you buy. In a community with an operating hotel, holiday letting by owners is often restricted or routed through an approved operator — a commercial matter with a direct effect on yield that deserves a written answer.

On exit, scarcity helps: four villas left in a scheme inside a built-out ITC, with completed neighbouring phases providing real comparables. Against that, a half-million-dollar villa draws a smaller and more internationally mobile buyer pool than an apartment, so expect a longer sale. If you may need to exit before 2027, ask about assignment policy, fee and the earliest permitted date before signing.

Risks worth weighing

85% paid before handover. Fifteen per cent of retention is workable but thin. Escrow and a written delay remedy are essential.

Only four villas remain, and the developer does not circulate a full availability list — so the pairing of pavilion type and bedroom count you want may not exist.

Service charge unpublished, with potentially three layers: villa, scheme and ITC master community.

Source data disagrees with itself on size, price and drive time. Re-confirm all three in writing.

Pool and pavilion upkeep. A private pool in an Omani summer is a real running cost; establish whether it falls to you or the scheme.

Not beachfront. The sand is seven minutes by car, not at the door.

Plot size is not published. Unlike neighbouring schemes the data sheet gives built area only — ask for the plot area, since it drives both privacy and any service charge billed on land.

Number of floors and total unit count are blank on the data sheet, though the presentation confirms two storeys.

Why Oman, and why this price point

The case for Oman is freehold title in designated zones, no annual property tax and no income tax on rent, and safety numbers that place the country among the calmest in the world on international crime indices. The rial’s long-standing peg to the US dollar removes currency risk for dollar-based buyers, and national policy is set out by Oman Vision 2040.

Raya occupies the point on that market where a villa stops competing with apartments on price and starts competing on what a house can do that a flat cannot: a pool you do not share, a garden with a wall around it, staff accommodation, and a separate building for guests or for a sauna. On timing, see whether 2026 is still a good time to buy in Oman; for transaction costs, our guide to property tax in Oman; and for the wider map, the best areas to buy property in Muscat.

Paying from abroad

Prices are quoted and settled in Omani rials. The rial has been pegged to the US dollar for decades, so a dollar-based buyer carries effectively no currency risk; buyers settling in other currencies do. With eleven separate payments across roughly two and a half years, that exposure repeats every quarter — worth discussing forward cover with your bank if your income is in a third currency.

Payments should route to the project’s escrow account rather than a general company account. Verify the account details independently before the first transfer and keep SWIFT confirmations for the registration file. Rates and banking-sector data are published by the Central Bank of Oman. If you are considering borrowing locally, see our guide to mortgages in Oman for foreigners.

How to buy: step by step

• 1. Ask which four villas remain — Wellness or Majlis, two or three bedrooms, plot size and orientation.
• 2. Ask the residency question directly: is any remaining villa priced at or above OMR 200,000? At OMR 189,200 the entry unit is only 5.7% short.
• 3. Get the current price in writing. The sheet carries both OMR 189,200 and an October 2024 figure of OMR 192,500.
• 4. Confirm the size. Use the 1,690 sq ft figure and the floor plans, not the 807 sq ft header value.
• 5. Get the itemised appliance, sanitaryware and lighting schedule — this is Raya’s strongest handover feature, so pin it down.
• 6. Get both service charges and confirm who maintains the private pool and pavilion.
• 7. Secure escrow and a delay remedy against the Q4 2027 date.
• 8. Visit. Jebel Sifah is built and operating — walk it, play the course, then decide.

Buyer due-diligence checklist

• Get the live list of the four remaining villas by type, bedrooms, plot and aspect.
• Ask whether any remaining villa is priced at or above OMR 200,000 for Golden Residency.
• Confirm the current price in writing — the sheet shows two different figures.
• Confirm built area against the floor plans; the 807 sq ft header figure is inconsistent.
• Request the plot area, which the data sheet omits.
• Get the itemised kitchen appliance, sanitaryware and lighting schedule with brands.
• Confirm exactly what the Wellness pavilion contains — studio, jacuzzi and sauna dimensions.
• Confirm the Majlis pavilion dimensions and whether it has its own WC.
• Request the Raya scheme and Jebel Sifah master-community service charges separately.
• Establish who maintains the private pool, garden and pavilion.
• Ask what the shared “private wellness centre” contains and whether Wellness-villa owners still pay for it.
• Verify the escrow account and route every instalment to it.
• Negotiate a written remedy for late delivery against Q4 2027.
• Clarify the short-term letting policy and whether an approved operator is mandatory.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Raya?
Inside Jebel Sifah, a gated resort community on Oman’s northern coast between the Gulf of Oman and the Al Hajar mountains, 35–40 minutes southeast of central Muscat and about an hour from the airport.

What is the difference between a Wellness villa and a Majlis villa?
Only the detached pavilion on the plot. The Wellness pavilion holds a wellness studio, a jacuzzi and a sauna; the Majlis pavilion is a single reception room for guests and family. The main house is identical in both.

Can foreigners buy at Raya?
Yes. Jebel Sifah is an Integrated Tourism Complex, the designation under which Oman permits foreign freehold ownership, with title registered in the buyer’s name.

How much do the villas cost?
From OMR 189,200 — about $492,100 — for a villa from 1,690 sq ft. The data sheet also records an October 2024 starting price of OMR 192,500, so confirm the current figure.

How big are the villas?
From 1,690 sq ft up to 1,970 sq ft. The sheet’s 807 sq ft minimum is inconsistent with the floor plans, which show a 6.4 × 5.6 m living/dining/kitchen alone, plus two en-suite bedrooms, a maid’s room and a laundry.

Does every villa have a pool?
Yes. A private swimming pool and a terrace garden are included with every villa, not offered as paid extras.

Is the villa furnished?
No, but kitchen appliances, plumbing fixtures and lighting are already installed. Only furniture is left to you.

Is there a maid’s room?
Yes — a 2 × 2 m maid’s room with its own bathroom is standard, including in the two-bedroom layouts.

What is the payment plan?
10% on booking, 7.5% three months later, then 7.5% every three months through the eleventh instalment — 85% before handover, with the remaining 15% due at completion.

When does Raya complete?
Q4 2027.

Does buying at Raya qualify for Oman residency?
The entry villa at OMR 189,200 falls OMR 10,800 short of the OMR 200,000 Golden Residency threshold — the narrowest gap of any project we cover. Larger villas may clear it, so ask directly. The Owner Visa under Decision 87/2026 has no minimum value. See our residency guide.

Who is the developer?
Muriya, a joint venture between Orascom Development (70%) and Omran (30%), the Omani government’s tourism development arm. Orascom has operated since 1989 and delivered El Gouna, Andermatt and Luštica Bay.

Is the golf course 9 holes or 18?
Eighteen, par 72, designed by Peter Harradine — Oman’s only seaside course. It can be played as nine holes, par 36, using dual pin flags, which is where the brochure’s “9-hole” description comes from.

What is the service charge?
Not published. Ask for the Raya scheme charge and the Jebel Sifah master-community charge separately, in writing, before committing.

How far is the beach?
Sifah Beach is seven minutes by car. Raya is not a beachfront scheme — the golf course and marina are closer, at five minutes each.

Talk to UInvest about Raya

Raya answers a question no other project in our Oman portfolio does: what does it cost to own a house here with a second building of your own on the plot — a sauna and jacuzzi in the garden, or a majlis where guests have their own room? At OMR 189,200 the answer is about $492,100, roughly what a one-bedroom apartment costs at the top of this coast.

With four villas left and the developer not circulating a full availability list, a live conversation is worth more here than any published figure. UInvest works directly with Muscat developers, which means current pricing, which of the four are Wellness and which are Majlis, and a direct answer to the question that matters most at this price point: whether any of them clears OMR 200,000 and opens the Golden Residency route.

Browse villas for sale in Oman and apartments for sale in Oman, compare the neighbouring Solaris, Olive Farms and The Beachfront, look at Muriya’s Salalah work at Amazi and Lubana Island or in our Hawana Salalah guide, review all our Oman property, or contact us for the current Raya availability list, floor plans and payment schedule.