Who typically looks here
Households posted to Muscat, and buyers comparing a coastal complex with the rest of the city.
At the end of May 2026 Muscat governorate had 1,538,312 residents, on the National Centre for Statistics and Information bulletin. That is the city of government, the port and the airport. Most of those households are not in a beachfront complex.
Al Mouj, on the coast, and Muscat Hills, inland, are developments the foreign buyer is commonly shown. Royal Decree 12/2006 is what would make a non-Omani ownership lawful, and only if the complex is licensed. GRIP does not treat the marketing name as that licence. The Oman page holds the decree. This page holds the difference between a scheme and the city.
What to read first
Whether the complex is licensed under Royal Decree 12/2006, and who would rent it on a working week.
How GRIP reads it
A capital first. The named schemes are a narrow product inside it.
Al Mouj and Muscat Hills
Al Mouj is a coastal masterplan. Muscat Hills is a hillside residential scheme. They do not share a tenant, a road or a season at the water. Both are discussed in the foreign buyer market. Neither name, printed here, is a finding that the current licence is in force. That finding is the ministry’s register and the title.
A golf course, a marina or a gate is an amenity. It is not the integrated-tourism-complex statute. The executive regulations, which the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism links from its investment page, are the conditions.
Rental demand
Year-round demand follows employers: ministries, the port, the airport, schools and private firms. Compounds used by posted staff are one product. Family houses in ordinary neighbourhoods are another. A unit that needs a holidaymaker is a third, and it is the one most exposed to empty months.
Infrastructure
The airport and Sultan Qaboos port are operating. Movement inside the governorate is by road, along a linear coast. There is no urban rail to capitalise into a price. The test is the drive at the hour it happens, including in summer heat.
Risks
Reading a scheme as if it were the city. Assuming a residence permit follows the keys. A thin resale pool if the next buyer is another non-resident using the same brochure. Salalah’s season does not describe Muscat’s.
Related GRIP research
Read around this city.
These are GRIP briefs, not city reports. They sit next to a Muscat reading.
Real estate research
Foreign ownership is a local question
There is no international standard for who may hold land. The jurisdiction in front of the title is the one that applies.
Brief9 June 20262 min read
Real estate research
Tenure, use and the quiet details that matter
Freehold, leasehold, strata, quota, company. The words are dull. They are also the asset.
Brief3 September 20262 min read
Investment basics
Cycles are normal. Time horizon is a choice.
A long hold is a design: cash, condition, and a reason to still want the asset later.
Brief29 June 20262 min read
Across GRIP
Around Muscat
The same place, on a related page.
Also in Oman
Other briefs in Oman.
Continue with GRIP
Continue with Muscat
If this city belongs on the list, write to GRIP, or return to the country brief.