Market Note · 3 min read
Muscat off-plan property rules in September 2026: what the escrow requirement changes
Oakbrick CornerStone Realty ·
Oman has moved its property market onto a single statutory footing. The Real Estate Regulation Law, set out this year by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, brings development, off-plan sales, brokerage, valuation and escrow accounts under one framework. For anyone looking at a new project in Muscat, the practical change is the sequence a developer must now complete before a single unit can be marketed or sold.
What the licensing sequence requires
The reported structure runs in three steps. A developer first holds a development licence, which establishes the legal right to develop at all. A project licence follows, and this is the stage at which an escrow account with a local bank is reported to be mandatory before any off-plan unit is sold. Only then does a marketing permit allow the project to be advertised, in media, online or at an exhibition.
Announcing or selling outside that sequence is not permitted, and the ministry has indicated that unlicensed developers face legal action, with separate penalties attached to escrow breaches. Officials have framed the rules as a safeguard for developers, investors and buyers rather than an administrative formality.
Oakbrick's view
Escrow is the line that matters. Where instalments sit in a supervised account tied to a licensed project, a buyer's exposure to a stalled build narrows considerably.
Before any payment, ask to see the development licence, the project licence and the escrow arrangement, and confirm the project is registered rather than simply advertised. Foreign buyers should separately confirm that the plot sits within a zone open to them: our Muscat market overview sets out where that applies and how the ownership routes differ. A regulated market is a slower market at the point of launch. For a buyer committing capital years ahead of handover, that is usually the better trade.
Source: Oman National Centre for Statistics and Information and published market reports.