MUSCAT: Trade contracts worth OMR292,211,518, were received along with fees totalling OMR5,791,470 during May, Dr Ali Azzan Al Hashami, deputy registrar for transactions and auditing of real estate in the Ministry of Housing, has said.
He said 32,597 real estate deals were inked in the same month which included sale, gift, inheritance, and swap, apart from mortgage, foreclosure and dismantling transactions as well as visas.
Dr Al Hashami said the total value of sale contracts was OMR149,562,081 from 7,049 transactions across all the governorates, and OMR4,398,257 was received as fees for those transactions.
Dr Al Hashami also revealed that during May, 20,853 ownership titles were issued with some owned by other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals.
Of these, 4,694 titles were issued in Muscat, 3,498 in North Al Batinah, 3017 in South Al Batinah and 2,777 in Al Dakhiliya, in addition to 1,948 titles in North Asharqiyah, 1,415 in A’Dhahira, 1,253 in South Asharqiyah and 1,200 in Dhofar.
Buraimi accounted for 530 ownership titles, Al Wusta for 342 and Musandam Governorates for 179 of them, apart from 4,786 new land plots that were registered.
Al Hashmi also stated that 157 GCC nationals bought real estate in the Sultanate in May, of which UAE nationals owned 71 properties accounting for 45 per cent of the real estate owned.
They were followed by Kuwait with 53 and 34 per cent, Bahrain with 21 and 13 per cent, Qatar with 11 and 7 per cent, and Saudi Arabia with one.
Most of the properties owned by GCC nationals are situated in North Al Batinah.
These totalled 46, or 29 per cent of the real estate compared to other governorates, with both Muscat and South Asharqiyah accounting for 15 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.