Get all the data you need about the real estate market in Muscat
SUMMARY
Yes. Foreigners can actually buy approved property in Al Thuraya City now, and the strongest evidence is no longer just legal wording: Oman is marketing the city internationally and live off-plan inventory is being sold as freehold to all nationalities.
The important shift in 2026 was not a nationwide opening of Oman’s property market. The new registry and residency rules made foreign ownership look broader than it was, while the Ministry later clarified that non-Omanis still need to buy in designated locations such as Al Thuraya.
City-level eligibility is only the first filter. A foreign buyer should still verify the exact project, the exact unit and the ownership wording in the SPA rather than assume every future parcel inside the master plan is automatically available on the same terms.
Tathmeer Hills is the clearest proof that Al Thuraya has moved beyond planning. Building 01 in Neighbourhood 6 is already being sold off-plan, with 255 homes, published prices, a payment schedule and a 2030 handover target.
The current entry point is relatively low for an Omani freehold purchase aimed at overseas buyers. Studios start at about OMR 56,101, with the advertised 28% initial payment bringing the first contractual payment to roughly OMR 15,708 before other transaction costs.
The pricing curve is unusual enough to notice. The smallest studio starts near OMR 1,183 per m², while the starting three-bedroom is closer to OMR 959 per m², so buyers get materially more floor area for each rial as unit size rises.
Buyers are entering very early in the city’s life. Phase One is planned around eight neighbourhoods, roughly 2,600 homes and about 8,000 residents, while current foreign inventory represents only an early slice of that build-out.
That makes execution risk more important than the headline freehold label. A buyer may receive the apartment on time and still face a district where shops, schools, parks, roads and rental demand are developing more slowly than the unit itself.
Oman’s off-plan framework gives buyers several concrete checks before money moves: project licensing, Tatwir registration, authorised advertising, project escrow arrangements and a full SPA. Those protections are useful, but the contract still determines what happens if delivery slips or specifications change.
Residency is another reason Al Thuraya is attracting attention, but it should not be collapsed into a simple “buy property, get visa” promise. The 2026 rules can support qualifying owners and some buyers whose registration is still incomplete, while the ten-year Golden Residency sits on a much higher investment threshold of roughly OMR 200,000.
The practical conclusion is straightforward: Al Thuraya is now a genuine foreign-buyer market, but it is still an early-stage one. The best purchase checks are project approval, unit-level freehold eligibility, Tatwir registration, escrow details, the SPA and the exact residency route attached to the chosen unit.
Why are people suddenly asking whether foreigners can buy in Al Thuraya City?
Foreign ownership in Al Thuraya City is much clearer today than it was earlier this year, but two legal changes created enough confusion that some buyers thought Oman had opened the whole country to foreigners.
The first change was Oman’s new Real Estate Registry Law under Royal Decree 56/2026. The second came shortly afterwards, when Royal Oman Police Decision 87/2026 changed the residency rules for foreign property owners. The new residence framework removed the need for a local sponsor in qualifying cases and extended the rules to some buyers whose property registration is still being completed.
Put those two reforms together and the headlines sounded dramatic: Oman was opening its property market.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning later clarified the position. Foreign ownership had not suddenly become legal everywhere. Non-Omanis still have to buy in approved locations, and the Ministry specifically included Al Thuraya City among the future cities where foreign ownership is permitted, alongside Sultan Haitham City and Al Jabal Al Aali.
So the uncertainty around Al Thuraya has largely disappeared. The harder question now is exactly what a foreign buyer can purchase inside the city, because city-level eligibility does not automatically make every future unit or plot available to every nationality.
Can foreigners actually buy property in Al Thuraya City now?
Yes. Foreigners can currently buy approved property in Al Thuraya City, and we now have both government confirmation and actual units being marketed for sale to all nationalities.
The strongest legal clue comes from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning itself. When it clarified Oman’s foreign-ownership rules after the 2026 residency reforms, it specifically named Al Thuraya City as one of the future cities where non-Omanis can own property.
The government’s current international marketing makes the position even clearer. Live Oman, the government-backed campaign promoting the country’s new cities to overseas buyers, features A’Thuraya City alongside Sultan Haitham City. Its ownership proposition says buyers in Oman’s designated investment zones can receive 100% freehold ownership with a Mulkiya title that can be kept, sold or passed to heirs.
Oman is also taking Al Thuraya directly to international buyers. The Foreign Ministry says the city is one of the developments being presented through the Live Oman campaign in London, where developers are meeting prospective buyers and investors rather than simply showcasing a long-term master plan.
We therefore have more than a planning announcement today. Al Thuraya sits inside the permitted foreign-ownership framework, Oman is actively marketing the city abroad, and actual residential inventory is now available.
Thinking of buying real estate in Muscat?
Acquiring property in a different country is a complex task. Don't fall into common traps – grab our guide and make better decisions.
Does that mean a foreigner can buy anything inside Al Thuraya City?
No. Foreigners can buy approved Al Thuraya property, but we would still check the exact project and unit before assuming that every home, land parcel or future neighbourhood carries the same ownership rights.
The distinction between a permitted city and an approved transaction is the useful one here.
The Ministry’s clarification places Al Thuraya inside the geographic areas where non-Omani ownership can exist. It does not say that every piece of land inside the master plan is automatically freehold for every foreign nationality. Oman already uses project-level restrictions elsewhere, particularly in integrated residential developments where the Ministry can determine how much inventory is available to non-Omanis.
Al Thuraya is also far larger than a single development. Phase One alone covers about 3.1 million square metres and is planned around eight residential neighbourhoods containing roughly 2,600 homes. Different neighbourhoods are being developed under separate agreements and will reach the market at different times.
A sensible check is therefore sequential: confirm that the development sits inside Al Thuraya City, confirm that the project has foreign-ownership approval, then confirm that the selected unit itself is being sold on that basis.
| What a buyer knows | What it proves | What it does not prove | What we would still verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property is inside Al Thuraya City | The location is within an approved future city | Every unit is foreign freehold | Project approval |
| Project advertises foreign ownership | Foreign buyers are being targeted | Every unit in every phase has identical rights | Exact unit eligibility |
| Unit is sold as freehold | Buyer is promised ownership rather than a normal lease | Final title has already been issued on an unfinished unit | SPA and registration route |
| Developer promises residency | Property may qualify for an owner-residence route | Residency is automatic or permanent | Government eligibility and documentation |
Is there actually an Al Thuraya project foreigners can reserve today?
Yes. Tathmeer Hills in Al Thuraya City is currently selling off-plan homes as freehold property open to all nationalities, which turns foreign ownership there from a future promise into a live transaction.
The first release is Building 01 in Neighbourhood 6. The current sales inventory shows 255 homes, ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments and duplexes. The advertised handover is in 2030.
We can finally test the claim using a real purchase rather than a master-plan brochure. A foreign buyer can currently choose a specific Tathmeer Hills unit, receive an advertised price, follow a published payment plan and enter an off-plan sales process.
The wider scale is also worth noticing. Neighbourhood 6 is planned across roughly 285,000 square metres with about 1,000 homes under a development partnership worth more than OMR 240 million. Building 01 therefore represents only about one-quarter of the planned homes in that neighbourhood.
The available inventory also shows where Al Thuraya sits in its development cycle. This is an early release inside one neighbourhood of an eight-neighbourhood first phase. Foreigners can buy now, although most of the future city has yet to reach the retail market.
Don't buy the wrong property, in the wrong area of Muscat
Buying real estate is a significant investment. Don't rely solely on your intuition. Gather the right information to make the best decision.
How much does a foreigner need to buy in Al Thuraya right now?
A foreign buyer can currently enter Al Thuraya from roughly OMR 56,000, while the advertised payment plan brings the initial contractual payment on the cheapest Tathmeer Hills unit down to about OMR 15,700 before other purchase costs.
The current starting price for a 47.42 m² studio is OMR 56,101. One-bedroom apartments start around OMR 72,635, two-bedroom homes around OMR 104,804 and three-bedroom units around OMR 135,424.
The pricing curve is worth a look. The smallest studio starts at roughly OMR 1,183 per square metre, while the starting three-bedroom works out closer to OMR 959 per square metre. Buyers pay much less per square metre as unit size increases.
The advertised payment schedule currently asks for 28% upfront followed by 48 monthly instalments of 1.5% of the purchase price. On the entry-level studio, that means roughly OMR 15,708 initially and around OMR 842 a month thereafter.
Purchase costs need a little more caution. Gov.om currently shows a 3% property-value charge on several real-estate registration routes, including ITC purchases. We would use 3% as a working reference for now and confirm the exact Al Thuraya transaction route before treating it as the final fee.
| Current starting unit | Size | Starting price | 28% initial payment | Approx. price/m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 47.42 m² | OMR 56,101 | OMR 15,708 | OMR 1,183 |
| 1 bedroom | 66.26 m² | OMR 72,635 | OMR 20,338 | OMR 1,096 |
| 2 bedrooms | 103.19 m² | OMR 104,804 | OMR 29,345 | OMR 1,016 |
| 3 bedrooms | 141.19 m² | OMR 135,424 | OMR 37,919 | OMR 959 |
What does “freehold” in Al Thuraya actually give a foreign buyer?
For approved Al Thuraya units, freehold is meant to give the foreign buyer an ownership title rather than a temporary right to occupy the property for a fixed number of years.
The clearest current description comes from Oman’s Live Oman campaign. It describes designated investment-zone property as 100% freehold and says the owner receives a Mulkiya title that can be retained, sold or transferred to heirs.
That is materially different from the long-term usufruct arrangements that Oman also uses in parts of its property market. A usufruct can give a foreign buyer substantial rights for decades, but it remains a time-limited property right. The freehold proposition being marketed for approved Al Thuraya inventory is ownership.
For an off-plan buyer, timing still matters. Someone reserving a Tathmeer Hills apartment today is buying a unit scheduled for future delivery. The buyer therefore starts with contractual and registration rights connected to an unfinished property before eventually reaching the completed-title stage.
We would read the sales and purchase agreement carefully here. It should explain how the unit is registered while construction is underway, when the final ownership title is issued, what share of common areas comes with the apartment and whether the owner can assign the contract before completion.
The word “freehold” is meaningful, but the SPA tells us how that freehold is actually reached.
Get to know the market before buying a property in Muscat
Better information leads to better decisions. Get all the data you need before investing a large amount of money.
How much of Al Thuraya City has actually been built?
Al Thuraya is under active development today, but buyers are still entering at an early stage: most of the city they see in the master plan does not exist as a completed neighbourhood yet.
The Ministry’s Phase One plan covers 3.087 million square metres. It includes roughly 2,600 residential units across eight neighbourhoods, 87 commercial units, 12 parks, two schools, health and sports facilities and an entertainment centre. The planned Phase One population is around 8,000.
Execution has moved beyond drawings. The Ministry has awarded infrastructure and construction-related packages for the city, and a recent group of tenders linked to Sultan Haitham City and Al Thuraya was worth more than OMR 52.8 million. Neighbourhood development agreements are moving separately, including the more than OMR 240 million partnership behind Tathmeer’s area.
Oman’s current Live Oman material describes executive works as having started in 2025 and Phase One as under active development. That description fits the public contracts and the current residential launch: the city is being built, although it remains several years away from looking like the finished renderings.
Anyone purchasing today is partly buying the apartment and partly taking a view on how successfully the surrounding city will be delivered.
| Al Thuraya Phase One | Current published scale | What it tells us |
|---|---|---|
| Land area | 3.087 million m² | This is a full urban district rather than one compound |
| Homes | About 2,600 | Current foreign inventory represents only an early portion |
| Residential neighbourhoods | 8 | Delivery will happen in several separate stages |
| Planned residents | About 8,000 | The project is designed for permanent urban life |
| Parks | 12 | Public realm is a large part of the master plan |
| Neighbourhood 6 partnership | More than OMR 240m | Private development commitments are already substantial |
How risky is buying Al Thuraya while the city is still being built?
Al Thuraya carries real development risk today because buyers are committing money years before both their apartment and the surrounding city are finished.
Tathmeer Hills currently targets a 2030 handover. That creates a long period during which construction progress, developer execution, infrastructure delivery and the timing of neighbouring projects can all affect the buyer’s experience.
The risks are easier to understand if we split them.
The city-level risk looks lower than it would for a purely private greenfield project because the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning is directly behind Al Thuraya’s wider urban programme. Infrastructure tenders have been awarded, neighbourhood development agreements have been signed and the government is now promoting the city internationally.
The unit-level risk remains. Government backing of the master plan cannot guarantee that a particular apartment building arrives on its original date, that specifications never change or that every surrounding restaurant, school, shop and park opens when the first residents move in.
That gap is most important for investors expecting immediate rental demand. A completed apartment inside a half-built district behaves differently from the same apartment once thousands of residents, businesses and amenities have arrived.
We would therefore price an Al Thuraya purchase today as an early-stage bet on execution, rather than pay the same premium we would accept for a mature Muscat neighbourhood where the roads, tenants, restaurants and resale market are already visible.
Buying real estate in Muscat can be risky
An increasing number of foreign investors are showing interest. However, 90% of them will make mistakes. Avoid the pitfalls with our comprehensive guide.
Are Al Thuraya off-plan buyers protected if construction goes wrong?
Oman has a formal off-plan sales system with project registration and escrow requirements, so an Al Thuraya buyer should expect considerably more protection than a simple reservation form and a developer’s ordinary bank account.
Gov.om says an off-plan real-estate development must obtain a development licence, submit documents including its land title or usufruct contract, plans, proposed off-plan sales agreement and implementation schedule, and then open an escrow account.
The advertising rules add another useful check. A project must be registered on the Tatwir platform before the developer can obtain permission to advertise off-plan sales. The developer must also show that a guarantee account has been opened at a licensed bank and provide evidence that qualifying amounts in that account equal at least 20% of the total project cost, with land value or completed works allowed in the calculation.
Those rules give buyers several things they can verify before paying.
We would ask for the project's Tatwir registration, the development licence, the authorised escrow-account details and the exact SPA that governs the unit. A buyer should also check the contractual completion date, grace period, delay remedies, refund rules, permitted changes to floor area and specification, assignment conditions and the process used if the developer fails to finish.
| Check | What we would ask for | Why it matters | What would worry us |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project registration | Tatwir registration details | Confirms the project sits inside the regulated system | Developer cannot provide them |
| Development approval | Project licence | Shows off-plan development has been authorised | Only a brokerage brochure is available |
| Escrow | Exact licensed project account | Helps ring-fence buyer payments | Payment requested to an unrelated account |
| Sale contract | Full SPA before payment | Defines delivery and buyer remedies | Key terms appear only in marketing material |
| Completion terms | Handover date, grace period and remedies | Shows what happens after a delay | Open-ended extension rights |
| Unit registration | Explanation of preliminary and final registration | Confirms how ownership is recorded | Vague promises about receiving title later |
Can an Al Thuraya buyer get Oman residency before the apartment is finished?
Potentially yes. Oman’s current property-owner residence rules can cover qualifying foreign buyers whose property registration is still being completed, which is particularly relevant to off-plan Al Thuraya.
Royal Oman Police Decision 87/2026 created much of the recent interest. The decision allows certain foreign buyers of a real-estate unit whose registration is incomplete to obtain a sponsor-free visa based on a certificate from the competent authority. The rules also provide an owner-residence route for foreign property owners without requiring the traditional local sponsor.
This is useful for Al Thuraya because current inventory is being sold years before completion. A qualifying buyer no longer necessarily has to wait for the finished apartment and final handover before the property can become relevant to residency.
The exact permit needs careful wording, though. The six-to-twelve-month period reported in connection with Decision 87/2026 applies to the entry visa available in certain pre-registration situations. The decision also deals separately with owner residence. Reducing the whole framework to “buy a property and automatically get a one-year visa” goes too far.
Eligibility still depends on the property being one the foreign buyer can legally own and on the competent authority issuing the required certification.
For someone considering Al Thuraya partly because of residency, we would make the developer identify the exact route, the certificate required, when it becomes available during the payment schedule and which family members can be included. That is much more useful than a brochure saying simply “residency included.”
Don't lose money on your property in Muscat
100% of people who have lost money there have spent less than 1 hour researching the market. We have reviewed everything there is to know. Grab our guide now.
Does an OMR 56,000 Al Thuraya apartment qualify for Oman’s Golden Residency?
No. Buying a relatively inexpensive Al Thuraya apartment can be relevant to the ordinary property-owner residence framework, but Oman’s ten-year Golden Residency has a much higher investment requirement.
The official Golden Residency programme is aimed at larger investors and offers a renewable ten-year residence. Invest Oman currently describes a minimum investment of about US$520,000, equivalent to roughly OMR 200,000, across qualifying routes.
Real estate is one possible route, but the official programme currently refers to ownership of completed property in tourism zones. Other routes include investing in an Omani company, government bonds or listed shares, placing a fixed-term bank deposit, or meeting certain employment conditions.
The difference is large. The cheapest Tathmeer Hills apartment currently starts around OMR 56,101, less than one-third of the OMR 200,000 Golden Residency investment threshold.
An Al Thuraya buyer should therefore treat property ownership and ten-year Golden Residency as two separate calculations. The ordinary owner-residence rules are the relevant starting point for a lower-priced apartment.
| Route | Typical property/investment threshold | Duration | Can a current OMR 56,101 Al Thuraya studio satisfy it by itself? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property-owner residence | No minimum value stated in Decision 87/2026 | Governed by the owner-residence framework | Potentially, subject to property and authority approval |
| Pre-registration property visa | No minimum value stated in Decision 87/2026 | 6–12 months, renewable for a similar period | Potentially, if the required certificate is issued |
| Golden Residency | Around OMR 200,000 qualifying investment | 10 years, renewable | No |
| Golden Residency through real estate | Official programme currently refers to qualifying completed tourism-zone property | 10 years, renewable | No at the current studio price |
Has Oman really started targeting foreign buyers for Al Thuraya?
Yes. Oman is currently moving Al Thuraya from a domestically announced future city into an internationally marketed property product.
The clearest evidence is the Live Oman campaign. A’Thuraya City has its own section on the government-backed site alongside Sultan Haitham City and Al Jabal Al Aali, with foreign buyers shown the freehold and residency proposition before they even reach individual developer projects.
The Foreign Ministry has also confirmed that Al Thuraya is being taken to London as one of the featured property opportunities in a two-week international campaign aimed at investors and prospective residents. The programme goes beyond a conventional property exhibition: Oman is arranging developer meetings and targeting wealth-management offices, private members’ clubs and other locations frequented by international investors.
At the same time, Tathmeer Hills gives those overseas buyers something they can actually reserve rather than asking them to wait for future launches.
That combination is new enough to be meaningful. A few years ago, foreigners looking for Muscat freehold property mainly encountered established ITC names such as Al Mouj, Muscat Bay and Muscat Hills. Oman is now putting future cities into the same international consideration set.
Al Thuraya therefore looks increasingly important to Oman’s foreign-buyer strategy even though the city itself remains at an early construction stage.
Get the full checklist for your due diligence in Muscat
Don't repeat the same mistakes others have made before you. Make sure everything is in order before signing your sales contract.
So can foreigners actually buy in Al Thuraya City now?
Yes. Foreigners can genuinely buy approved property in Al Thuraya City today, and we would now consider the central claim confirmed rather than premature.
The evidence lines up unusually well. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning has identified Al Thuraya among the future cities where non-Omanis can own. Oman’s government-backed international campaign is actively promoting A’Thuraya to overseas buyers under a 100% freehold proposition. Tathmeer Hills is currently selling specific units in the city as freehold homes open to all nationalities, with an entry price around OMR 56,000.
As seen above, the important limitation is at project and unit level. Al Thuraya’s status gives foreigners a legal route into the city; buyers should still verify that the exact development and unit they choose carry the promised ownership approval.
The timing also deserves to be understood properly. Buying Al Thuraya now means buying into a city that is still being built. Phase One eventually targets around 2,600 homes and 8,000 residents, while the first available foreign inventory represents only an early slice of that programme. Current buyers are therefore taking several years of development risk in exchange for entering before the wider city is mature.
For someone who simply wants to know whether a foreigner can sign for a real Al Thuraya home now, the answer is clear: yes. The smarter follow-up is to check the exact freehold approval, Tatwir registration, escrow account, SPA and residency route for the chosen unit before sending money.
OUR METHODOLOGY
This analysis tests a broader question than simple legal eligibility: whether a foreign buyer can actually purchase property in Al Thuraya City today, what that ownership means, what can already be transacted, how the current economics work, and what remains dependent on project execution.
We separated city-level permission from project-level and unit-level evidence. Laws, government decisions, ministry statements and official service rules carried the most weight for ownership, registration, off-plan protection and residency. Government project material was used for the scale and status of Al Thuraya, while developer material was used for Tathmeer Hills pricing, inventory, payment terms and delivery timing.
We cross-checked legal permission against implementation. A rule allowing non-Omani ownership does not prove that a specific apartment can be bought today, while a live sales launch does not by itself establish the wider legal framework. The conclusion is based on those two sides lining up.
Where figures could be calculated from published data, we recalculated them directly. That includes the 28% initial payments and the approximate price per square metre for current Tathmeer Hills starting units.
We also separated current facts from forward-looking assumptions. Al Thuraya is under active development, so completed infrastructure, future rental demand, delivery timing and the maturity of the resale market are not treated as established simply because they appear in the master plan.
Key sources include the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning’s Al Thuraya project page, Live Oman, the Oman Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Live Oman London campaign, the Ministry’s material on Royal Decree 56/2026, Gulf News on the Ministry’s foreign-ownership clarification, Oman Observer on Royal Oman Police Decision 87/2026, Gov.om’s pages for the real-estate development project licence, off-plan advertising permits and property-owner residence visas, Invest Oman on Golden Residency, and Tathmeer’s material on Building 01 and Neighbourhood 6.
Don't sign a document you don't understand in Muscat
Buying a property over there? We have reviewed all the documents you need to know. Stay out of trouble - grab our comprehensive guide.
Related blog posts
- Can foreigners buy property in Sultan Haitham City?
- Are foreign buyers pulling back from Dubai real estate?
- Did more Sharjah projects just open to foreign buyers?
- Can foreigners really buy freehold property in Sharjah?
