Oman's National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) released its Q2 2026 Real Estate Price Index this month, and the headline is the strongest of the last five quarters: prices up 22.7% year on year across all property types. In Q1 2026 the same index was up 15.9%. Below is what the release breaks down to, how it compares with the quarters before it, and what it does and does not tell you about a specific area. The figures are also laid out against our tracked areas in the quarterly market report.
The headline number, broken down#
NCSI splits the index into residential and commercial property, and each of those into land and built categories. Every figure below is year on year, Q2 2026 against Q2 2025.
| Category | Q2 2026 | Q1 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Overall index | +22.7% | +15.9% |
| Residential (all) | +24.6% | +17.6% |
| Residential land | +28.0% | +21.0% |
| Apartments | +17.2% | +4.4% |
| Villas | +10.8% | +9.0% |
| Other houses | +0.6% | -1.1% |
| Commercial (all) | +12.4% | +10.5% |
| Commercial land | +19.2% | +11.0% |
| Industrial land | -3.9% | +16.5% |
| Shops | -12.0% | -1.8% |
Two things stand out. First, land is still leading: residential land rose 28% and commercial land 19.2%, while built commercial property (shops) fell. Second, apartments have caught up sharply. A 4.4% rise in Q1 became 17.2% in Q2, the biggest change of any category between the two releases. For buyers of finished apartments in Muscat, that is the most relevant line in the table, more so than the headline figure.
Muscat led again, but the regional picture shifted#
Residential land prices by governorate, Q2 2026 against Q2 2025:
| Governorate | Q2 2026 | Q1 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Muscat | +40.6% | +43.6% |
| Musandam | +29.1% | +17.6% |
| North Al Batinah | +29.0% | +0.2% |
| South Al Batinah | +18.9% | +4.0% |
| North Al Sharqiyah | +17.3% | -14.9% |
| Dhofar | +16.4% | +10.8% |
| South Al Sharqiyah | +14.2% | +4.7% |
| Al Dakhiliyah | +9.8% | +5.0% |
| Al Dhahirah | +6.7% | +2.5% |
| Al Buraimi | +3.1% | +25.9% |
| Al Wusta | -16.0% | +2.0% |
Muscat has now led every one of the last five quarters, with residential land up between 38.1% and 48.3% year on year in each. The bigger change in Q2 is outside the capital. North Al Batinah, home to Sohar, jumped from almost flat to +29%, and North Al Sharqiyah swung from a 14.9% fall to a 17.3% rise. Al Buraimi went the other way, from +25.9% to +3.1%.
NCSI publishes the size of each move, not its cause, so any explanation is informed context rather than an official finding. Sohar's port, freezone and industrial base are the obvious backdrop to North Al Batinah's rise. Our Sohar area page has the neighbourhood-level figures, and Dhofar's +16.4% sits alongside continued freehold development around Hawana Salalah.
Five quarters of the index#
| Quarter | Overall | Residential | Muscat residential land |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | +10.8% | +11.8% | +38.1% |
| Q3 2025 | +17.3% | +18.7% | +48.3% |
| Q4 2025 | +13.9% | +14.6% | +41.3% |
| Q1 2026 | +15.9% | +17.6% | +43.6% |
| Q2 2026 | +22.7% | +24.6% | +40.6% |
Each figure compares a quarter with the same quarter a year earlier, so this is a run of annual growth rates, not a cumulative price path. Read it as "the market has been rising at double-digit annual rates for five straight quarters, and the pace picked up in Q2", not as prices having risen by the sum of these numbers.
Transactions: more deals, more mortgages, fewer titles#
NCSI's transaction data for January to June 2026, reported at the end of July, shows activity rising more slowly than prices:
- Total transaction value: RO 1.43 billion, up 5.4% on the first half of 2025
- Sale contracts: 34,017, up 6.9% from 31,831, worth RO 688 million (up 12.2%)
- Mortgage contracts: 13,383, up 25.7% from 10,647, worth RO 740.2 million (down 0.3%)
- Property titles issued: 101,700, down 8%, including 541 to GCC citizens (down 22.4%)
The mortgage figures are the ones to notice. The number of mortgage contracts rose by a quarter while their total value was flat, which means the average mortgage in the first half of 2026 was noticeably smaller than a year earlier. More buyers are borrowing, but for less each. As in Q1, the number of titles issued fell while sales rose. NCSI does not explain that gap, so we flag it rather than guess at a cause.
What this means if you are buying#
- Use the index as direction, not as a valuation. A 22.7% national rise covers everything from Muscat land (+40.6%) to shops (-12%). For a specific neighbourhood, start with our area pages or put two or three side by side with the compare tool.
- Faster price growth usually means thinner yields. When prices rise faster than rents, gross yield falls. Check what a purchase returns at today's prices with the yield calculator, and what it costs once fees are added with the purchase cost calculator.
- Apartments are no longer the slow category. If you were waiting because finished units lagged land, the Q2 data says that gap has narrowed a lot.
Every figure in this article is dated and sourced to NCSI's official releases as reported at the time. See our data and methodology for how these official figures relate to the listing-based estimates used on area pages.
Sources: National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) Q2 2026 Real Estate Price Index, as reported by Times of Oman, 19 September 2026. NCSI transaction data for January to June 2026, as reported by Oman Observer, 29 July 2026. Earlier quarters: Muscat Daily (Q2 2025), Muscat Daily (Q3 2025), Oman Observer (Q4 2025), and our Q1 2026 analysis.