Where Foreigners Can Own Property in Qatar — and the 10th Zone Added in 2026

Qatar has widened the map of where non-Qataris can own property outright, bringing the number of designated freehold zones to ten under Cabinet Resolution No. 21 of 2026.

The resolution amends Cabinet Decision No. 28 of 2020, which first drew up the list of areas where foreigners may hold full freehold ownership and longer-term usufruct rights. Both sit within the framework set by Law No. 16 of 2018 — the legislation that opened Qatari real estate to non-Qatari ownership and use in clearly defined parts of the country, rather than nationwide.

The headline change is the addition of a tenth area: Simaisma, on the coast north of Doha, registered as Zone 70. It joins the nine freehold districts that have been on the books since 2020, almost all of them clustered around the capital and its waterfront developments.

In full, the ten zones now open to foreign freehold ownership are: West Bay / Legtaifiya (Zone 66); The Pearl Island (Zone 66); Al Khor Resort (Zone 74); Al Dafna (Zones 60 and 61); Onaiza (Zone 63); Lusail (Zone 69); Al Kharayej (Zone 69); Jabal Thuaileb (Zone 69); and the newly added Simaisma Resort & Beach (Zone 70). The list reads like a roll-call of Qatar's flagship lifestyle and investment addresses — The Pearl and Lusail among them — now formally extended up the coast to Simaisma.

The distinction that matters to buyers is between freehold and usufruct. In these designated zones, a non-Qatari can hold freehold title — full, permanent ownership of the property and the land beneath it. That is a step beyond the usufruct rights available in a wider set of areas, which grant the use and benefit of a property for a long fixed term (commonly up to 99 years) without transferring the land itself. The 2018 law was the first to put freehold ownership for foreigners on a statutory footing; the 2020 and 2026 cabinet decisions are what fix the map of exactly where it applies.

Alongside the new zone, the resolution reflects an administrative shift: the registration of non-Qatari property is now handled through the Real Estate Registration Department at the Ministry of Justice, consolidating the paperwork that turns a sale into a recorded title. For a market that has leaned heavily on off-plan sales in Lusail and The Pearl, a clearer registration channel is as consequential as the new postcode.

The policy direction is deliberate. Qatar's framework has long tied property ownership to residency — owners who meet set investment thresholds can secure residency linked to their property — and the expansion of freehold zones is part of a broader push to draw long-term foreign capital into real estate as the country diversifies beyond hydrocarbons. Each addition to the list is, in effect, a signal to overseas buyers about where the state wants investment to land.

For now, the practical takeaway is simple. If you are a non-Qatari looking to own — not merely lease — a home or an investment property in Qatar, the field is these ten designated zones, and as of 2026 that field includes Simaisma for the first time. Everything outside them remains subject to the narrower usufruct and leasehold rules, or closed to foreign ownership altogether.