Who buys property in Oman in 2026: the nationalities behind foreign demand in Muscat.

The strength is broad-based and registry-visible. Total real-estate trading reached OMR 3.38 billion in full-year 2024, with 233,345 title deeds issued, after the running total had already climbed 28.1% to OMR 3.13 billion by November. Note what that figure is and is not: it is total trading across Oman, overwhelmingly domestic, not a foreign or high-end sub-segment.

Properties issued to GCC citizens, the one cross-border slice the registry breaks out, rose 10% to 1,447 over the year. Vision 2040, the national strategy to diversify away from oil and build out tourism, sits underneath the trend, and it is the domestic and Gulf engine, not a foreign-buyer surge, that explains the headline growth.

Foreign freehold is confined to the ITCs, master-planned resort communities where a purchase confers ownership and renewable residency for the owner and immediate family. Outside the ITCs, GCC nationals have wider rights, but most international buyers transact inside these schemes. The framework held steady into 2026, and the headline pull is the same: title plus residency, no annual property tax and no capital gains tax.

• Freehold plus residency. A purchase in an ITC carries freehold title and a residency permit, the core draw for non-resident buyers.
• No property or capital gains tax. Oman levies no annual property tax and no personal capital gains tax. Purchase and registration costs still apply, so confirm the all-in entry cost per transaction before you commit.
• Yields of about 5-8%. Gross apartment yields in the ITCs run roughly 5-8%, with prime apartments at the upper end and villas and townhouses typically lower.
• A high-end tier set to outpace the market. The premium segment the ITCs sit in is forecast to compound at about 7.5% a year, reaching roughly USD 1.92 billion by 2031.

With no registry breakdown by nationality, the picture below is assembled from expatriate-population shares and the buyer groups agents report as most active in the ITCs. Treat it as a directional list, not a ranking with hard shares. Demographics set the backdrop: as of December 2024, Oman’s population was 5,272,984, of whom 2,284,336 were expatriates, about 43%. Bangladeshis, at 637,152, are now the largest expat nationality, while the Indian population fell 2.7% to about 506,630. ITC buyers, though, skew toward wealthier nationals with stronger investment power, not the largest labour-migrant groups.

1. Indian buyers. Long the most active ITC group, driven by proximity and ties.
2. British buyers. Tax-free income and historical links to Oman.
3. Emirati and other GCC investors. Wider ownership rights and regional familiarity.
4. Saudi nationals. Gulf neighbours active across the resort estates.
5. American investors. Drawn by stability and the residency-linked title.
6. Pakistani buyers. A large resident community with coastal demand.
7. German buyers. Interest in sustainability-led schemes.
8. Chinese investors. Following broader Gulf investment ties.
9. Qatari investors. GCC rights and short-haul proximity.
10. Australian investors. Yield-led buyers chasing ITC rental returns.

Specific unit prices in Oman have no single credible source, and headline per-square-metre and per-unit figures that circulate online rarely trace to a verifiable registry or valuer release. The honest position is that entry pricing should be confirmed listing by listing, not taken from a fixed headline number, because asking levels vary widely by scheme, view and completion stage even within a single ITC.

On the income side, gross apartment yields in the ITCs sit in the 5-8% range, with prime apartments at the upper end and villas lower. That income case, not a precise price point, is the more durable signal for a buyer weighing an ITC purchase in Muscat.

The relevant question for a foreign buyer is not the whole-market average but the premium tier the ITCs sit in, and that tier is forecast to outpace the broad market. Mordor Intelligence has Oman’s high-end residential market reaching roughly USD 1.92 billion by 2031, a compound annual growth rate of about 7.5%, with villas the largest share and Muscat the dominant city.

That high-single-digit trajectory, not a national average, is what the resort estates are positioned against. It is also why the ITC rental and resale case rests on the premium-segment forecast and the confirmed registry strength of the wider market, rather than on the precise unit prices and pipeline figures that circulate without a verifiable source.

It is worth being precise about the numbers that circulate on this topic, because several widely repeated stats do not hold up.

• No nationality ranking exists. Oman’s NCSI does not publish buyer share by nationality, so any "30% Indian, 15% British" table is an estimate, not registry data.
• Headline trading is the whole market. The OMR 3.13 billion (up 28.1% to November 2024) and OMR 3.38 billion full-year totals are all-Oman real-estate trading, overwhelmingly domestic, not a foreign or high-end sub-segment.
• FDI is not property buying. Oman’s total inward FDI reached OMR 31.38 billion, with the UK the largest source at OMR 16.42 billion (52.3%), but this is dominated by oil and gas and does not measure residential purchases.
• Trading is registry-confirmed, not nationality-split. Total real-estate trading reached OMR 3.38 billion in 2024 across 233,345 title deeds, after climbing 28.1% to OMR 3.13 billion by November, a clear signal of an active market, but the registry does not break this out by buyer nationality.

Four moves separate a strong entry from a poor one.

• Stay inside the ITCs. Freehold title, residency and the 5-8% yield case all sit within schemes like Al Mouj, Muscat Bay and Muscat Hills. That is the foreign-ownership channel.
• Weigh the high-end forecast, not just the headline yield. Gross apartment yields run about 5-8%, and the premium tier the ITCs sit in is forecast at about 7.5% a year to a roughly USD 1.92 billion market by 2031.
• Cost in the fees per transaction. There is no property or capital gains tax, but purchase and registration costs apply, so model the all-in entry cost and confirm the current rates at the point of sale.
• Choose a developer that delivers. Completion risk and resale liquidity vary widely by scheme; a developer’s track record matters more than the brochure.

For where the highest-value addresses sit, see our guide to the highest-value places to live in Oman. For why values keep climbing, read the reasons property prices in Oman are rising.

The setup for 2026 is favourable but specific. Total real-estate trading of OMR 3.38 billion in 2024, momentum that had already lifted the running total 28.1% by November, a high-end tier compounding at about 7.5% a year, and a freehold-plus-residency framework that held steady into 2026 all point the same way. The constraint is that foreign demand is narrow by design: it lives in the ITCs, and the registry will not tell you which passports are buying.

The buyer base is broad in practice, led by Indian and British capital alongside Gulf neighbours and a long tail of American, German and Chinese investors, but it is best read as estimate, not fact. To see what is available now across the country, browse the current developments in Oman. The discipline is the same whichever group a buyer belongs to: buy into a freehold ITC, in Muscat, with a developer that delivers.