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Muscat residential rentals fall 15%

Residential rental prices in many parts of Muscat have fallen by up to 15 per cent this year as cheaper properties in areas near the airport gain in popularity, according to real estate experts.

As many businesses continue to move out of Ruwi, employees are moving to stay near their workplaces - with many eyeing Bausher, Ghubra and Ghala for cheaper properties.

Eqarat sales director Salman Jalil said that many businesses are following BankMuscat out of Ruwi - with prices stabilising in Al Khuwayr, Bausher and Ghubrah but 'definitely going down' in Muscat's old commercial centre as a result.

The Muscat International Airport project is also bringing in new expats who are looking for properties nearby, according to Savills Oman leasing agent Becky Moore.
She said, "There has been quite a lot of expatriates coming in at the moment, especially with the airport project. There are a lot of people going towards the airport. Muscat Hills is around 70 per cent full now and is proving very popular."

Explaining that although prices are dropping for lower-quality properties and those in 'unpopular' areas, Glenn Meek, the managing director of Better Homes, added that the Muscat Expressway has opened up increasingly popular areas like Bausher.

"People are more willing to venture out into that area because the expressway has opened everything up." Moore added that rental prices in traditional expatriate areas are dropping as "nobody wants the older stock" and with better value properties available elsewhere. "Rental prices for five-bedroom houses in Shatti al Qurm have dropped from RO3,000 in 2010 to around RO2,000 this year."

Al Habib Real Estate general manager Sudhakar Reddy said that areas like Ruwi and Wadi Kabir are 'saturated,' so new businesses and residential areas have to move out towards the airport.

He said, "The rentals are not falling dramatically, only by a small margin, but the city is shifting towards Bausher, Al Khuwayr, Ghubrah and Azaiba. It has been shifting from Ruwi and Wadi Kabir for the last 20 years. These areas are saturated, so the city has to expand and it has to expand towards the airport."

Moor Shah, the general manager of Al Younis Real Estate, added that although rental prices are falling "in certain areas" it "depends on the area" with parts in Ruwi seeing an increase because there is still a lot of demand for the area. He said, "There is a lot of demand from our side. We have a lot of enquiries for Ruwi."

Hamptons International figures show that prices for two-bed apartments have fallen in Ruwi from RO350 a month in 2010 to RO250 a month in 2011, with prices in Qurm falling from RO600 to RO550 and prices in Ghubrah North down from RO450 to RO375.

Daniel Sellu, leasing manager, Hamptons, said that consumers are looking for properties based on price - with many following their businesses away from Ruwi.
Sellu added that prices have been dropping, with prices possibly set to fall further in popular sectors such as two-bed apartments when more come on the market.

© Muscat Daily 2011

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