Ever since the sultanate introduced a legislation in 2004, which allows foreign nationals to buy freehold property in designated areas, the real estate market has continuously seen an upward trend.
The legislation, a part of Oman’s ‘Vision 2020’ plan, aims to diversify the country’s economic base and reduce its dependence on oil revenues – a goal that is a bit far-fetched, but nevertheless achievable.
Even though partly aimed at international property investors who wish to own a piece of property in these ‘Integrated Tourism Complexes’ (ITC), a great deal of interest has also poured in from Omanis as well.
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| The Wave, Muscat |
A case in point is The Wave Muscat - the first project launched in Oman to offer freehold status to all purchasers irrespective of nationality – which continues to see tremendous success.
From exquisite apartments to commercial complexes, the project already includes the award winning Al Mouj Golf, while several star hotels are also coming up in the premises.
Claiming that owners of Marsa 1 apartments (one of The Wave’s beachfront residency products) are majorly Omanis, David Stafford, vice president of sales and marketing at The Wave, said at a press conference, “Eighty per cent of the Marsa 1 apartments were sold about six months after launch, which shows the appetite for new luxury living in Muscat. We are launching Marsa 2 ahead of schedule in an effort to meet the high demand for apartment living in the capital, which is driving sales and pushing developers for a high quality product supply.”
And yet, Oman has not grown as rapidly as its neighbor UAE and comparatively has fewer freehold properties available for sale. However, on the plus side and unlike UAE or even the rest of Gulf, Oman lays huge emphasis on constructing quality, low-rise properties, which complements the country’s rich heritage and surrounding infrastructure.
At their recent property award function, Walid Akawi, CEO of ITP Business Publication that publishes Construction Week magazine, said, “The country has such a unique landscape and character which makes the judging of the awards quite different to our Dubai, Saudi Arabia or Qatar installments where skyscrapers tend to dominate the skyline.” This is as the result of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s decision to enshrine in law the need to build in traditional form, style and color.
While the design law may be intact in the sultanate, the current multi-use real estate development set-up can tend to bring up unforeseen legal issues. In ITCs, some parts of the property are separately owned while some other parts, such as lobbies, stairways, driveways, elevators and recreational spaces such as parks, are jointly owned.
As commercial, residential and tourist features are integrated and are within the same compound, enforcing by-laws can become tedious and problematic as each of these components come with their own set of by-laws.
Disputes and uncertainty may arise, for example, in areas such as managing repairs of common spaces, utilizing common funds, maintaining leisure facilities, vehicle parking on common property, pet management, reaching a consensus on use of common areas, and appointment and dismissal of the owners’ association members.
There seems to be a need for ITCs to adopt unique mechanisms to solve potential problems while keeping in mind the complicated dynamics involved while handling a large group of diverse owners with divergent interests.
One of Oman’s Royal Decrees that tackles such ‘common area’ ownership issues is dated and thus falls severely short when it comes to handling modern day buildings such as The Wave.
Therefore, taking into account the growing importance of ITCs, not only in Oman’s real estate scenario, but also in its larger developmental plan, the country should make sure the laws that govern such establishments are upgraded to be relevant, precise and stringent.
As the real estate market is steadily growing, now is an apt time for Oman to consider the benefits of a well defined legal framework for the ITC sector.
