Authored by the expert who managed and guided the team behind the Oman Property Pack
Yes, the analysis of Muscat's property market is included in our pack
Muscat's housing market has been on a strong upswing, with residential property prices jumping close to 19% year-on-year in 2025, and villa prices alone climbing over 16% in the same period.
Whether you are an expat relocating for work or an investor looking at Oman's Vision 2040 growth story, understanding what houses actually cost in Muscat right now is the first step to making a smart decision.
We constantly update this blog post with the latest data we can find, so you always get a current picture of the Muscat property market.
And if you're planning to buy a property in this place, you may want to download our pack covering the real estate market in Muscat.
How much do houses cost in Muscat as of 2026?
What's the median and average house price in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, the median asking price for a villa in Muscat sits around OMR 240,000 (roughly $624,000 or €528,000), while the average is higher at about OMR 310,000 ($806,000 or €682,000) because a handful of luxury listings in places like Al Mouj pull the number up.
The typical price range that covers roughly 80% of villa sales in Muscat in 2026 runs from about OMR 120,000 to OMR 450,000 ($312,000 to $1,170,000 or €264,000 to €990,000), which is the band where most family-oriented buyers end up shopping.
The gap between the median and the average in Muscat tells you that this is a market with a long "luxury tail," meaning a relatively small number of high-end waterfront villas in communities like Al Mouj and Muscat Hills push the average well above where most buyers actually transact.
At the median price of OMR 240,000 in Muscat, you can realistically expect a 3- to 4-bedroom villa of around 200 to 300 square meters in a well-established but not prime neighborhood, such as parts of Al Khuwair, Bausher, or Azaiba, likely with decent finishes but not brand-new construction.
What's the cheapest livable house budget in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, the minimum budget for a livable villa in Muscat is around OMR 90,000 to OMR 110,000 ($234,000 to $286,000 or €198,000 to €242,000), assuming you are flexible on location and willing to accept older finishes.
At this entry-level price in Muscat, "livable" typically means an older villa with functioning plumbing and electrics but dated kitchens and bathrooms, aging air-conditioning units (which matter a lot in Muscat's extreme summer heat), and possibly some waterproofing issues that are common in older Omani construction.
These cheapest livable villas in Muscat are usually found in neighborhoods like Al Mawaleh (where listings start around OMR 99,000), parts of Al Seeb further from the coast, Ansab, Al Amerat, and Al Khoudh, all of which sit on the more "commuter" side of the city rather than the central coastal strip.
Wondering what you can get? We cover all the buying opportunities at different budget levels in Muscat here.
How much do 2 and 3-bedroom houses cost in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, a 2-bedroom villa (often townhouse-style in Muscat's lifestyle communities) typically costs around OMR 200,000 to OMR 300,000 ($520,000 to $780,000 or €440,000 to €660,000), while a 3-bedroom villa in mainstream Muscat neighborhoods runs from about OMR 120,000 to OMR 240,000 ($312,000 to $624,000 or €264,000 to €528,000).
For a 2-bedroom villa in Muscat, the realistic range is OMR 200,000 to OMR 300,000 ($520,000 to $780,000 or €440,000 to €660,000), with listings like a 2-bedroom in Al Sifah at around OMR 245,000 showing where this segment tends to land.
For a 3-bedroom villa in Muscat, the range widens to OMR 99,000 to OMR 240,000 ($257,000 to $624,000 or €218,000 to €528,000), covering everything from an older 3-bed in Al Mawaleh at the low end to a renovated one closer to the central coast.
The price jump from a 2-bedroom to a 3-bedroom villa in Muscat is not always straightforward, because 2-bedroom villas in Muscat tend to be concentrated in newer, managed communities (which come at a premium), while many 3-bedroom options are in older, less "lifestyle-branded" areas, which is why you can sometimes find a 3-bed for less than a 2-bed.
How much do 4-bedroom houses cost in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, a 4-bedroom villa in Muscat (the most common family villa size in this market) typically costs between OMR 250,000 and OMR 450,000 ($650,000 to $1,170,000 or €550,000 to €990,000), with premium communities like Muscat Hills and Al Mouj pushing the top end higher.
For a 5-bedroom villa in Muscat, the realistic range in 2026 is OMR 180,000 to OMR 400,000 ($468,000 to $1,040,000 or €396,000 to €880,000), and the spread is wide because a 5-bed in an outer area like Ansab (around OMR 135,000) can cost far less than a smaller villa in Al Mouj.
For a 6-bedroom villa in Muscat, expect to pay between OMR 350,000 and OMR 900,000 ($910,000 to $2,340,000 or €770,000 to €1,980,000), with trophy properties in Al Mouj reaching well above OMR 1,000,000.
Please note that we give much more detailed data in our pack about the property market in Muscat.
How much do new-build houses cost in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, new-build villas in Muscat typically start around OMR 280,000 to OMR 550,000 ($728,000 to $1,430,000 or €616,000 to €1,210,000) for a standard 3- to 5-bedroom layout, depending heavily on whether the project is in a managed community like Al Mouj or in a less branded development.
New-build villas in Muscat carry a premium of roughly 10% to 25% compared to comparable older resale villas in the same area, which buyers pay for because newer construction means modern AC systems, better insulation, updated plumbing, and lower near-term maintenance costs, all of which matter enormously in Muscat's harsh climate.
How much do houses with land cost in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, villas with a meaningfully larger plot (standalone with a garden, rather than a compact townhouse footprint) in Muscat typically cost OMR 300,000 to OMR 600,000 ($780,000 to $1,560,000 or €660,000 to €1,320,000), with coastal and hillside pockets like Qantab and Yiti commanding the highest premiums.
In Muscat, a "house with land" usually means a villa sitting on a plot of 400 square meters or more (compared to the 150-to-250 square meter plots common in denser townhouse rows), and the premium you pay for that extra outdoor space is typically 15% to 40% above a similar-sized built villa on a smaller plot.
Thinking of buying real estate in Muscat?
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Where are houses cheapest and most expensive in Muscat as of 2026?
Which neighborhoods have the lowest house prices in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, the Muscat neighborhoods with the lowest villa prices include Al Mawaleh, Ansab, Al Amerat, Al Khoudh, and parts of outer Al Seeb, all located on the inland or far-western side of the city, away from the coastal core.
In these cheaper Muscat neighborhoods, villa prices in 2026 typically range from OMR 90,000 to OMR 180,000 ($234,000 to $468,000 or €198,000 to €396,000), with some of the lowest listings appearing in Al Mawaleh around OMR 99,000 and in Ansab around OMR 135,000.
The main reason these Muscat neighborhoods have the lowest prices is not just distance from the coast, but the fact that they lack the "managed community" infrastructure (shared pools, gyms, landscaped common areas, security) that lifestyle developments like Al Mouj offer, and their older housing stock often requires significant AC and waterproofing upgrades.
Which neighborhoods have the highest house prices in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, the three most expensive neighborhoods for villas in Muscat are Al Mouj (The Wave), Muscat Hills, and Shatti Al Qurum, all of which combine waterfront or coastal access with premium lifestyle amenities.
In these top-tier Muscat neighborhoods, villa prices in 2026 typically range from OMR 400,000 to well over OMR 1,000,000 ($1,040,000 to $2,600,000+ or €880,000 to €2,200,000+), with trophy villas in Al Mouj occasionally listed above OMR 1,400,000.
The main reason these Muscat neighborhoods command the highest prices is that Al Mouj and Muscat Hills are Integrated Tourism Complexes (ITCs) where foreign nationals can legally buy freehold property, which concentrates international demand into a limited pool of available homes and keeps prices elevated.
The typical buyer in these premium Muscat neighborhoods is either a senior expatriate executive relocating with a company housing package, or a foreign investor looking for freehold ownership combined with the possibility of an Oman Golden Visa (which requires a minimum property investment of OMR 200,000).
How much do houses cost near the city center in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, villas near Muscat's city center (which in practice means the Qurum, Shatti Al Qurum, and Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos gravity zone, where embassies, offices, and malls cluster) typically cost between OMR 250,000 and OMR 600,000 ($650,000 to $1,560,000 or €550,000 to €1,320,000).
Near Muscat's main transit corridors and Mwasalat bus hubs (Ruwi, Burj Al Sahwa, Al Khuwair, Al Azaiba), villas in 2026 typically cost OMR 140,000 to OMR 300,000 ($364,000 to $780,000 or €308,000 to €660,000), as Muscat remains a car-first city but commuter-friendly pockets hold steady mid-market demand.
Near the top-rated international schools in Muscat, such as the British School Muscat in MSQ, TAISM near Bausher, and the International School of Choueifat on the Seeb side, villas in 2026 typically cost OMR 150,000 to OMR 600,000 ($390,000 to $1,560,000 or €330,000 to €1,320,000), with the British School Muscat catchment at the top end of that range.
In expat-popular areas of Muscat like Al Mouj, Muscat Hills, Qurum, Shatti Al Qurum, and Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos, villas in 2026 typically cost OMR 300,000 to OMR 700,000+ ($780,000 to $1,820,000+ or €660,000 to €1,540,000+), reflecting the lifestyle premium and, in the case of Al Mouj and Muscat Hills, the foreign-ownership advantage.
We actually have an updated expat guide for Muscat here.
How much do houses cost in the suburbs in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, villas in the suburbs of Muscat (the areas further from the coastal core, toward Seeb and outer districts) typically cost OMR 100,000 to OMR 250,000 ($260,000 to $650,000 or €220,000 to €550,000).
That means suburban Muscat villas are generally 40% to 60% cheaper than comparable villas near the city center, which is a significant gap driven by the distance from the coastal lifestyle strip and the older, less managed housing stock in these outer areas.
The most popular suburbs for villa buyers in Muscat in 2026 include Al Mawaleh (for its relative affordability), Al Seeb (for its airport proximity and growing retail), Al Khoudh (near Sultan Qaboos University), and Al Amerat (offering more space for the price), all of which attract budget-conscious families and first-time buyers.
What areas in Muscat are improving and still affordable as of 2026?
As of early 2026, the top areas in Muscat that are improving and still relatively affordable for villa buyers include Bausher (and its Al Ghubrah extensions), the Seeb-side growth corridors near new retail centers, and parts of Sultan Haitham City, all of which are benefiting from infrastructure investment without yet reaching prime-area pricing.
In these improving Muscat neighborhoods, villa prices in 2026 currently range from about OMR 130,000 to OMR 280,000 ($338,000 to $728,000 or €286,000 to €616,000), which is still well below what you would pay in Al Mouj or Qurum for a similar-sized home.
The main sign of improvement driving buyer interest in Bausher and the Seeb-side corridors is not just road widening, but the arrival of new mixed-use developments and hypermarket anchors (like Lulu and Carrefour) that signal a shift from "commuter dormitory" to "self-contained neighborhood," which is exactly the pattern that preceded price acceleration in areas like Al Khuwair a decade ago.
By the way, we've written a blog article detailing what are the current best areas to invest in property in Muscat.
We did some research and made this infographic to help you quickly compare rental yields of the major cities in Oman versus those in neighboring countries. It provides a clear view of how this country positions itself as a real estate investment destination, which might interest you if you’re planning to invest there.
What extra costs should I budget for a house in Muscat right now?
What are typical buyer closing costs for houses in Muscat right now?
When buying a villa in Muscat, you should plan for total closing costs of roughly 4% to 6% of the purchase price, which means on a OMR 300,000 villa that is about OMR 12,000 to OMR 18,000 ($31,000 to $47,000 or €26,000 to €40,000) on top of the sale price.
The main closing cost categories in Muscat include the property transfer fee (3% of property value, paid to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning), legal and translation fees (OMR 300 to OMR 1,000 or $780 to $2,600 or €660 to €2,200), bank mortgage processing and valuation fees if you are financing (OMR 300 to OMR 800 or $780 to $2,080 or €660 to €1,760), and any agent commission you may have agreed to.
By far the single largest closing cost in Muscat is the 3% property transfer fee, which on a OMR 300,000 villa comes to OMR 9,000 ($23,400 or €19,800), and it is non-negotiable as it is set by the government.
We cover all these costs and what are the strategies to minimize them in our property pack about Muscat.
How much are property taxes on houses in Muscat right now?
Oman does not charge an annual property tax on residential homes, which means that as a villa owner in Muscat you will pay OMR 0 ($0 or €0) per year in recurring property taxes, making Muscat significantly cheaper to hold property in than most Western markets.
Since there is no annual property tax in Muscat, the Omani government instead collects revenue at the point of transaction through the 3% transfer fee, and your main recurring ownership costs are utilities, maintenance, and insurance rather than any tax bill.
If you want to go into more details, we also have a page with all the property taxes and fees in Muscat.
How much is home insurance for a house in Muscat right now?
Annual home insurance for a typical mid-market villa in Muscat in 2026 generally costs between OMR 80 and OMR 250 ($208 to $650 or €176 to €550), covering both building structure and contents, with luxury villas paying more depending on the declared rebuild value.
The main factors that affect home insurance premiums for villas in Muscat are the property's rebuild cost (larger and more expensive villas cost more to insure), the level of contents coverage you choose, whether you add natural hazard riders (cyclone risk is real in Oman), and the age and construction quality of the villa.
What are typical utility costs for a house in Muscat right now?
Total monthly utility costs for a family villa in Muscat in 2026 typically run between OMR 50 and OMR 120 ($130 to $312 or €110 to €264) during cooler months, and can climb to OMR 80 to OMR 185 ($208 to $481 or €176 to €407) during summer when air-conditioning runs around the clock.
The biggest chunk of your utility bill in Muscat is electricity, which runs about OMR 35 to OMR 160 per month ($91 to $416 or €77 to €352) depending on the season and how many AC units you run, based on the 2025 residential tariff slabs published by NAMA (starting at 14 baisa per kWh for the first 4,000 kWh), while water adds about OMR 8 to OMR 25 per month ($21 to $65 or €18 to €55) under the residential tariff published by Dhofar Services.
What are common hidden costs when buying a house in Muscat right now?
Beyond the purchase price and the standard 4% to 6% closing costs, first-time villa buyers in Muscat often face an additional OMR 3,000 to OMR 15,000 ($7,800 to $39,000 or €6,600 to €33,000) in hidden or overlooked expenses during the first year of ownership.
Inspection fees in Muscat range from about OMR 80 to OMR 200 ($208 to $520 or €176 to €440) for a basic condition check, with specialist AC, electrical, and plumbing inspections costing an extra OMR 30 to OMR 80 ($78 to $208 or €66 to €176) each, and since Muscat does not have a standardized home inspection culture, you typically commission these separately.
Other common hidden costs when buying a villa in Muscat include AC replacement or major servicing (which can easily run OMR 2,000 to OMR 5,000 for a full house), waterproofing repairs on roofs and balconies (a chronic issue in older Omani villas), pest control contracts, and community or service charges if you buy in a managed development like Al Mouj or Muscat Hills.
The hidden cost that tends to surprise first-time villa buyers in Muscat the most is the air-conditioning bill, both the electricity consumption in summer (which can double or triple your cooler-month costs) and the maintenance or replacement of aging AC units, which in Muscat's extreme heat are not optional but a basic living necessity.
You will find here the list of classic mistakes people make when buying a property in Muscat.
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What do locals and expats say about the market in Muscat as of 2026?
Do people think houses are overpriced in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, sentiment among buyers in Muscat is split: expats shopping in lifestyle communities like Al Mouj and Muscat Hills often feel prices are "premium but fair" given the limited freehold supply, while those looking at older villas in non-branded neighborhoods feel there is room to negotiate.
Villas in Muscat in 2026 typically stay on the market for about 60 to 120 days, with well-priced properties in prime expat zones often selling within 1 to 3 months, while overpriced or highly specific villas in less sought-after areas can sit for 150 days or more.
The main reason many expats feel villa prices in Al Mouj and Muscat Hills are justified (even at a premium) is that these are among the very few places in Oman where foreigners can own freehold property, so demand is funneled into a small number of communities while the rest of the Muscat market is effectively off-limits for non-Omani buyers.
Compared to two years ago, sentiment on villa prices in Muscat has shifted from cautious (the market was still recovering from a multi-year downturn) to optimistic, largely because the strong 18.7% price rebound in 2025 convinced many buyers that the bottom had passed and waiting could mean paying more.
You'll find our latest property market analysis about Muscat here.
Are prices still rising or cooling in Muscat as of 2026?
As of early 2026, villa prices in Muscat are still clearly rising, continuing the strong upward momentum that began in early 2025 after several years of post-oil-crash and post-COVID price declines.
The estimated year-over-year price change for residential property in Muscat is around +18% to +19%, with villas specifically rising about 16% to 17% based on the latest NCSI data from Q3 2025, making this one of the strongest growth periods the Muscat villa market has seen in recent years.
Most market experts and local agents expect villa prices in Muscat to keep rising over the next 6 to 12 months, though at a more moderate pace of perhaps 5% to 10%, because the 2025 rebound was partly a "catch-up" from prior years of underperformance, and new supply from projects like Sultan Haitham City should help absorb some demand.
Finally, please note that we have covered property price trends and forecasts for Muscat here.
We created this infographic to give you a simple idea of how much it costs to buy property in different parts of Oman. As you can see, it breaks down price ranges and property types for popular cities in the country. We hope this makes it easier to explore your options and understand the market.
What sources have we used to write this blog article?
Whether it's in our blog articles or the market analyses included in our property pack about Muscat, we always rely on the strongest methodology we can … and we don't throw out numbers at random.
We also aim to be fully transparent, so below we've listed the authoritative sources we used, and explained how we used them and the methods behind our estimates.
| Source | Why we trust it | How we used it |
|---|---|---|
| NCSI Residential Property Price Index | Oman's official national statistics authority. | We used it to anchor price growth rates and market direction. We then checked our 2026 price ranges against official index movements. |
| Bayut Oman | Major property portal with large listing volume. | We sampled villa listings to build a February 2026 asking-price snapshot. We extracted median, average, and neighborhood-level price ranges from this data. |
| PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries | Top-tier global tax advisory firm, regularly updated. | We used it to confirm the transfer fee rate and absence of annual property tax. We cross-checked these figures against local sources. |
| Hamptons Oman Market Guide | Established real estate firm with a structured buyer guide. | We used it to detail what buyers actually pay in fees and taxes. We cross-checked the key tax and process points against PwC data. |
| Cavendish Maxwell | Recognized regional real estate consultancy with research practice. | We used it to understand supply composition and market dynamics. We referenced their villa-versus-apartment analysis and new supply pipeline data. |
| NAMA Residential Electricity Tariff | Official utility tariff document, publicly posted. | We used it to estimate monthly electricity bills based on published slab rates. We translated those slabs into realistic monthly ranges for family households. |
| Dhofar Services Water Tariff | Utility operator with explicit published rates. | We used it to estimate monthly water costs under the residential tariff. We applied conservative consumption assumptions for newcomer budgeting. |
| Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning | Government body overseeing housing policy and land registry. | We used it to ground the buying process (registration, transfer fees). We referenced MoHUP as the authority on official property transfer procedures. |
| Savills Oman Q1 2025 Report | Global real estate advisory with Oman-specific market reports. | We used it to validate neighborhood pricing tiers and rental benchmarks. We cross-referenced their Al Mouj premium data with listing evidence. |
| Mwasalat | Official public transport operator for Muscat. | We used it to name real transit corridors and bus hubs. We then mapped these to housing demand patterns in nearby neighborhoods. |
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