AIDA and Yiti, Muscat: Buyer and Investor Guide to Oman's Clifftop ITC (2026)

As of July 2026, entry prices in the AIDA and Yiti development zone start at OMR 85,971 (~USD 224,000) for apartments at The Sustainable City – Yiti and OMR 95,000 (~USD 247,000) at AIDA itself, rising to OMR 807,690 (~USD 2.1 million) for five-bedroom Trump Golf Villas (Palmera catalog, accessed 18 Jul 2026). Both zones sit inside Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC) territory southeast of central Muscat, which means buyers of any nationality get freehold title, pay a 3% registration fee, and — once they own a completed unit worth OMR 200,000 (~USD 520,000) or more — qualify for Oman’s 10-year Golden Residency. Almost everything here is off-plan today, with handovers scheduled between 2028 and 2030.

What AIDA is: a USD 1.5 billion clifftop masterplan by DarGlobal and OMRAN

AIDA was announced on 24 March 2022 at Expo 2020 Dubai as a joint venture between Dar Al Arkan’s international arm DarGlobal and OMRAN Group, Oman’s state tourism developer: 3.5 million square meters in three stages, an investment value of about USD 1.5 billion, and roughly 3,500 residential units — medium-sized villas, townhouses, and low-rise apartments (Dar Al Arkan press release and Oman Observer, both 24 Mar 2022). The site is a clifftop plateau roughly 130 meters above the Gulf of Oman, above Yiti beach, about 20 minutes’ drive from downtown Muscat via Yiti Road (DarGlobal AIDA site, accessed 18 Jul 2026), within a wider Yiti development area that announcement coverage put at more than 11 million square meters (Muscat Daily, 24 Mar 2022).

The current confirmed lineup, verified July 2026:

• Trump International Hotel Muscat and Trump International Golf Club Oman. A USD 500 million complex: a 140-key five-star hotel with cliff-edge “hanging suites,” an 18-hole championship course managed by the Trump Organization with holes carved into natural wadi formations, a members-only club, a golf academy, and a cliff-hanging night club; the golf club is scheduled to open in December 2028 (The Trump Organization; Construction Week Online, 2024).
• Trump-branded residences. Trump Golf Villas — a collection of around 100 villas in three- to seven-bedroom formats fronting the golf course (Omnia Capital Group listing, accessed 18 Jul 2026) — plus Trump Cliff Villas on the cliff edge and Fairway Villas along the course.
• Marriott Residences AIDA. Two nine-floor towers with 244 branded residences in one- to three-bedroom formats; owners receive two years of Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status and Trump golf club membership (OPR/Metropolitan listings, accessed 18 Jul 2026).
• Non-branded apartments and villas. The Great Escape 2 (one- to three-bedroom apartments) and Amour sans Détour (three-bedroom homes).

One clarification, because it comes up in searches: there is no St. Regis at AIDA. The St. Regis Al Mouj Muscat Resort is a separate hotel in the Al Mouj ITC (Marriott directory, accessed 18 Jul 2026). AIDA’s confirmed brands are Trump International and Marriott Residences.

What Yiti’s Sustainable City is: Diamond Developers’ net-zero community

On the Yiti coastal strip below AIDA sits The Sustainable City – Yiti by Diamond Developers (the SEE Holding subsidiary behind Dubai’s Sustainable City), also in partnership with OMRAN. Launched on 30 March 2022 with an investment value of nearly USD 1 billion, it spans about one million square meters and plans 300 villas, 1,225 apartments, and 132 serviced apartments for around 10,000 residents and visitors, targeting net-zero carbon by 2040 — Oman’s first net-zero-themed community (official launch release, 30 Mar 2022). The design is car-light, with pedestrian and cycling routes linking homes to schools, clinics, mosques, and sports facilities. The original completion target was 2025, with later coverage pointing to full operation from 2026 (MEP Middle East, n.d.), making it the nearest-to-delivery part of the zone.

Palmera lists two Sustainable City – Yiti projects: The Plaza (urban-core one- to three-bedroom apartments) and the Sustainable District (net-zero-ready three- to four-bedroom villas).

Entry prices as of July 2026

Live asking prices across both zones, from the Palmera catalog (developer pricing, accessed 18 Jul 2026); the peg used throughout is 1 OMR = 2.60 USD:

Project	Zone	Units	From (OMR)	From (~USD)	Handover
The Plaza, The Sustainable City – Yiti	Yiti	1–3 BR apartments	85,971	224,000	Off-plan
The Great Escape 2	AIDA	1–3 BR apartments	95,000	247,000	2029
Marriott Residences AIDA	AIDA	1–3 BR apartments	139,200	362,000	2029
Amour sans Détour	AIDA	3 BR	175,000	455,000	2030
Sustainable District, TSC – Yiti	Yiti	3–4 BR villas	238,747	621,000	Off-plan
Trump Cliff Villas	AIDA	3 BR villas	385,380	1,002,000	2028
Fairway Villas	AIDA	4–5 BR villas	491,298	1,277,000	2028
Trump Golf Villas	AIDA	5 BR villas	807,690	2,100,000	2028

For trajectory context: the first Great Escape phase started at OMR 91,200 (~USD 237,000) as of Q2 2024 (Metropolitan listing), so the mid-2026 phase-two entry of OMR 95,000 is roughly 4% launch-to-launch appreciation over two years — not a runaway market, which cuts both ways.

Two practical notes. These are developer “from” prices for the smallest unit in each project; view premiums move quickly because cliff-edge stock is finite. And the OMR 200,000 Golden Residency threshold is cleared by every villa product above but not by entry-level apartments, so residency-driven buyers should check the specific unit price, not the project’s “from” price.

Freehold status and the 10-year Golden Residency

AIDA and the Yiti developments are marketed and cataloged as ITC-zone projects — the legal category that matters, because under Oman’s Royal Decree 12/2006 framework non-GCC foreigners can only buy freehold inside designated Integrated Tourism Complexes. Both zones sell freehold to all nationalities on that basis.

On residency: 10-year Oman Golden Residency, property route from OMR 200,000 in a designated ITC (relaunched 31 Aug 2025; the older 250k/500k two-tier thresholds you may see elsewhere were the pre-2025 programme). The relaunched programme is a single 10-year renewable residency with seven qualifying routes, each from OMR 200,000 (~USD 520,000), administered by MoCIIP through the official portal omanresidence.gov.om. The real-estate route requires a completed residential, commercial, or tourism unit with a valid title deed inside a designated ITC. Family inclusion covers spouse, children, and first-degree relatives with no age or number restrictions (omanresidence.gov.om, accessed 18 Jul 2026; Gulf News, 1 Sep 2025).

The word “completed” is the honest catch for this zone: an off-plan contract does not by itself qualify you for Golden Residency — eligibility begins when the unit is delivered and titled in your name, which at AIDA means 2028 at the earliest. Buyers who need residency sooner should look at completed ITC stock elsewhere (Al Mouj, Muscat Bay, Jebel Sifah) or the Sustainable City – Yiti phases closest to delivery. Full programme detail is in our Oman Golden Residency guide.

Lifestyle: golf, cliff walks, beach, and how far everything is

AIDA’s pitch is vertical drama: the plateau edge drops about 130 meters to the sea, and the masterplan wraps the golf course, hotel, and villa clusters around that cliff line, with wellness centers, fitness facilities, and landscaped public space in between (DarGlobal AIDA site, accessed 18 Jul 2026). At sea level, Yiti beach and the Sustainable City supply the daily-services layer a pure resort zone would lack, and the established Shangri-La and Ritz-Carlton (Al Bustan) resorts on the coastal road toward Muscat mean the corridor already has working five-star hospitality while AIDA’s hotels are built.

Travel times: about 20 minutes to downtown Muscat (DarGlobal) and roughly 40 minutes to Muscat International Airport (Palmera catalog, accessed 18 Jul 2026). That is farther from the airport than Al Mouj; AIDA is the scenery-and-golf play against Al Mouj’s marina-and-urban-convenience play.

Construction status and delivery timeline

Everything at AIDA is off-plan as of July 2026. The sequence, per developer materials and the live catalog (accessed 18 Jul 2026):

• 2026: The Sustainable City – Yiti targeted to be fully operational (MEP Middle East, n.d.); first Yiti-zone handovers ahead of anything at AIDA.
• Q3 2028: first AIDA residential deliveries — Trump Cliff Villas, Fairway Villas, and Trump Golf Villas are all cataloged for 2028 handover, and construction updates target Q3 2028 for the first apartment phase.
• December 2028: Trump International Golf Club Oman scheduled opening (Construction Week Online, 2024).
• 2029–2030: The Great Escape 2 and Marriott Residences AIDA (2029), Amour sans Détour (2030).

The standard off-plan caveat applies with extra force to a three-stage masterplan: dates shift. The Sustainable City’s own target moved from 2025 to 2026; write expected-delivery and compensation terms into the sale agreement rather than relying on marketing timelines.

Rental and holiday-let outlook: forward-looking, not a yield story yet

AIDA has no rental track record because nothing has been handed over; any yield quoted for AIDA today is a projection, not data. What can be sourced is the surrounding Muscat market — the base case an AIDA or Yiti landlord inherits at handover:

• Average gross residential yields in Muscat run about 5–7% as of early 2026, with premium lifestyle areas like Al Mouj at 4–6% and value districts higher; realistic net yields after service charges, management, and vacancy are around 3.5–5% for long-term lets (Sands of Wealth Muscat database, early 2026).
• The short-let market is small and seasonal: Muscat Airbnb data for June 2025–May 2026 shows 34.3% average occupancy, a citywide average daily rate around USD 88, and average annual revenue of roughly USD 6,407 per listing (AirROI, accessed 18 Jul 2026). Top performers do multiples of that in the October–April season, but the average says occupancy risk is real.
• Palmera’s own ITC rental analysis puts Muscat averages at 6–8% gross with short-let strategies at 5–10% gross — see Oman rental yields and ROI in ITCs.

The bull case: a Trump golf resort and Marriott rental infrastructure create exactly the destination demand that lifts short-let rates above the Muscat average. The bear case: supply lands in 2028–2030 in a market whose short-let occupancy currently averages 34%, and resale liquidity in Oman is thinner than Dubai’s. Treat rental income at AIDA as a 2029-onward story and stress-test at Muscat-average occupancy, not resort-brochure occupancy.

How to buy: process, payment plans, escrow, and fees

The off-plan purchase path at AIDA and Yiti, as of July 2026:

1. Reserve and sign. Reservation deposit, then a sale and purchase agreement. On AIDA apartment launches, DarGlobal has offered construction-linked plans of 80/20 and 90/10 with a 10% booking payment (Metropolitan/OPR listings, 2024–2025) — 80–90% in installments during construction, the balance at or after handover.
2. Escrow protection. Oman requires licensed developers to run off-plan buyer payments through a project escrow account with withdrawals tied to approved construction phases — a regime created by Royal Decree 30/2018 and consolidated in the Real Estate Regulation Law, Royal Decree 79/2025, which also requires developers to be licensed before launching any project (decree.om; BSA Law analysis, 2025). Pay into the named project escrow account, never a general company account.
3. Registration and title. The registration/transfer fee is 3% of value (Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning fee schedule, corroborated by Trowers & Hamlins and market guides, accessed Jul 2026). The title deed is issued on completion and handover — the trigger for Golden Residency eligibility.
4. Holding costs and taxes. 0% personal income tax on rental income today and 0% capital-gains tax on property (Oman’s first personal income tax, Royal Decree 56/2025, takes effect in 2028 and targets only roughly the top 1% of earners). Residential sales and leases are exempt or zero-rated for Oman’s 5% VAT. Budget for ITC service charges, set per project — confirm them in writing before signing. More in Oman property taxes for investors.

Palmera lists 6 DarGlobal projects at AIDA and both Diamond Developers projects at Yiti at developer pricing, no buyer commission — browse AIDA Muscat listings and Yiti listings, or reach the team via the contact page.