Real estate deals dip 7.3% in August

Muscat: The total value of property transactions in the Sultanate at the end of August 2020 fell 7.3 per cent to reach OMR1,527.6 million from OMR1,647.4 million for the same period of 2019, as indicated by the preliminary statistics issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The number of plots issued at the end of August 2020 was 107,192, which is a decline of 24 per cent compared to the end of August 2019, when 140,952 plots were issued.
Of the total traded value at the end of August 2020, OMR510 million worth transactions were sales contracts while OMR965.1 million transactions were mortgage deals.
As many as 32,460 sales contracts were executed in August 2020 against 38,279 contracts during the same period of 2019. However, the total number of mortgage contracts declined by 25.8 per cent to reach 7,989 contracts against 10,771 contracts in 2019.
The Sultanate’s government collected OMR41.6 million as real estate transaction fees at the end of August 2020, which is a drop of 25.4 per cent compared to the same period of 2019.
NCSI data revealed a significant rise in traded value of exchange (barter) contracts by 233.1 per cent at the end of August 2020 to OMR52.5 million, as against OMR15.8 million posted in the comparable period of 2019.
The number of barter contracts witnessed a rise of 1 per cent to a total of 1,100, compared to 1,089 contracts in 2019.
The number of plots allocated to GCC citizens fell by 63.2 per cent to reach 228 plots compared to 620 plots during the same period of 2019, the data showed.