Real estate deals drop in October
MUSCAT: The overall activity in the real estate market was muted in the first 10 months of 2018, compared to the same period last year.
The total value of property transactions in the Sultanate till the end of October 2018 declined by 2.5 per cent to reach RO2.2 billion from RO2.3 billion for the same period of 2017, according to the preliminary statistics issued by National Centre for Statistics and information (NCSI).
The Sultanate’s government collected RO72.1 million as real estate transaction fees during Januaryoctober period this year, 6.8 per cent higher compared to the same period of last year.
Of the total traded value till the end of October 2018, RO 802.2 million worth transactions were sales contracts, while RO1.4 billion transactions were mortgage deals.
As many as 49,586 sales contracts were executed in the 10-month period of 2018 against 50,616 contracts during the same period of 2017.
However, the total number of mortgage contracts fell by 15.2 per cent to reach 13,815 against 16,298 contracts in 2017.
NCSI data reveal a significant fall in traded value of exchange (barter) contracts by 25.9 per cent during the January-october 2018 period to RO 14 million, as against RO 18.9 million posted last year over the comparable period. The number of barter contracts witnessed a rise of 54.9 per cent to 1,287, compared to 831 contracts in 2017.
As for plots issued till the end of October 2018, the number stood at 187,735, which is a decline of 0.4 per cent from the end of October 2017, when 188,518 plots were issued.
The number of plots allocated to GCC citizens surged by 17.1 per cent at 1,221 compared to 1,043 plots during the same period last year, the data showed.