Costs and fees when buying property in Oman

Oman is a low-friction market to own and a modest one to buy. A foreign buyer should plan for roughly 5 to 8 percent of the price in one-off costs, and almost nothing recurs each year. The largest single item is the property transfer fee paid to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, set at 3 percent of value for foreign buyers. There is no separate stamp duty: some guides loosely call the transfer fee a stamp duty, but the correct term, and the only headline transaction tax, is the transfer and registration fee.

Request an itemised quotation for the selected home showing the price in Omani rials, whether VAT is included or payable, registration and other transaction charges, the payment schedule and ongoing service charges. Confirm the current treatment with the developer and your Omani legal or tax adviser before paying.

Request an itemised quotation for the selected home showing the price in Omani rials, whether VAT is included or payable, registration and other transaction charges, the payment schedule and ongoing service charges. Confirm the current treatment with the developer and your Omani legal or tax adviser before paying.

Second, a reservation deposit is not an extra cost, it is the first slice of the price. New projects commonly take around 5 percent on a reservation, rising toward 10 percent on a signed reservation or memorandum, with the overall initial payment often in the 10 to 35 percent range depending on the plan. Those figures are developer-set and vary by project, so treat them as typical, not fixed.

The table below is an illustration using a home priced at OMR 150,000. It is not a quotation or a tax determination. Ask for written confirmation of each charge and the selected unit’s VAT treatment.

Request an itemised quotation for the selected home, including VAT, transaction charges and ongoing service costs. Confirm the tax treatment for your circumstances with an Omani tax adviser.

Landlords face one extra item. Residential rental income carries a 3 percent municipality tax, levied on the rent rather than on the property. It applies whether or not the new income tax has arrived, and it is the only rent-linked levy in place today.

The structural change every Oman buyer should understand is not yet in force. Under Royal Decree 56/2025, issued in June 2025, Oman introduces a 5 percent personal income tax from 1 January 2028. It applies to personal income above OMR 42,000 a year, about USD 109,000, and it is the first personal income tax in any GCC state. The Tax Authority expects roughly 99 percent of residents to fall below the threshold, so it is aimed at higher earners.

For a property investor, the line that matters is that rental income is within scope, with deductions allowed for leasing-related expenses. A gain on a primary residence is exempt. So an owner-occupier is largely unaffected, while a buy-to-let investor whose total income clears the threshold should model the 5 percent into net yield from 2028. Executive regulations that set the detail are due before publishing as hard rules, so we confirm the position per investor rather than assume it.

Compare the full cost of the selected home: purchase price, transaction charges, payment dates, service charges and letting costs if relevant. Request an itemised quotation for the selected home, including VAT, transaction charges and ongoing service costs.

The honest caveat is the one most marketing omits: the 2028 income tax. It is dated, it is the first of its kind in the region, and it reaches rental income. For an owner-occupier it changes little; for an income investor it is a line in the model from day one. Price it in, confirm the VAT status of the specific unit, and Oman becomes one of the more straightforward markets in the Gulf to own well.