Muscat · News · Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning
Oman signs 20 housing and city agreements worth more than RO 1 billion as Urban October 2026 opens in Muscat, including 2,443 Sorouh homes
The sixth Urban October opened on Monday 5 October 2026 at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre with the signing of 20 partnership, development and tender-award agreements that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning values at more than RO 1 billion. The largest block is eight Sorouh neighbourhood agreements worth RO 186.6 million for 2,443 homes in eight towns. Al Thuraya City gained two neighbourhood deals of 485 homes for RO 100 million together, and Sultan Haitham City awarded two construction tenders worth more than RO 26 million between them.
Why it mattersA billion rials of signatures in one morning tells a Kuwaiti buyer where Oman is putting its public effort: new cities and planned neighbourhoods, not scattered plots. Two names on this list matter most to us. Sultan Haitham City is where the ministry's own residency route applies, a renewable two-year residency once 30% of the price of a home is paid, and it is where four of the projects we list in Oman, Zaha Residence, Wadi Zaha, Sarooj and Yenaier, sit. The Sorouh neighbourhoods are the same model carried to eight towns from Sohar to Taqah; the agreements signed on Monday are development agreements, so these homes are years away, and whether a given Sorouh scheme is open to non-Omani buyers has to be confirmed project by project before anyone pays a deposit. Our view: treat this as a map of where supply is coming, use it to time a purchase in the capital area, and do not buy on a signing ceremony.
