Manama real estate market — prices, rental yield and trend

• Average price: $2,610 / m²
• Gross rental yield: 9.11%
• Net rental yield: 8.2%
• Transaction cost: 1.7%
• Price basis: local-market average

Residential property in Manama averages $2,610 per square metre. That makes it the 188th most expensive of the 264 markets in the set.

What a buyer pays in Manama

The $2,610 figure is a local-market average across all residential property types: a flat in a prime district sits well above it, an older unit on the edge of the market well below. Buying costs — transfer tax or stamp duty, notary, registration and agency — come to about 1.7% of the price here. On a 100 m² apartment at the average price that is roughly $4,437 on top of the $260,992 purchase price. That is below the 9.6% median across the set, which shortens the time it takes for a purchase to break even. Of that, the transfer tax alone is 1.7–2% depending on the buyer and the property; the rest is notary, registration and agency fees. That is within a few percent of the Bahrain national average of $2,576, which is unusual — in most countries the leading city runs well ahead.

What it earns

A square metre lets for about $19.8 a month. Against a purchase price of $2,610 per square metre that is 9.1% gross, before tax. Both figures come from the same source and the same period, so you can check the arithmetic yourself. It ranks 8th of 311 markets by gross yield. Rental income is taxed at 10%, which takes the yield down to 8.2% net. The 0.9-point difference between the gross and net figure is the part most listing sites leave out. On the way out there is a third tax: a non-resident seller pays 0% on the gain.

How the tax works. 10%: not an income tax. Bahrain has no personal income tax, but a 10% municipality tax is levied on the rental of residential and commercial property to expatriates and is payable by the property owner (PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Bahrain corporate - other taxes, reviewed 26 July 2026). As a municipal levy it is generally not creditable as income tax at home. No capital gains tax on property sales. Source: PwC Bahrain.

How this figure is built

The price figure for Manama is built from asking prices from listings. It was last refreshed on 2026-10-17. We rate our confidence in this market’s data low — treat the figures as indicative and check them before acting. We recompute every market the same way, which is what lets Manama be compared with a country average or another city.

Sources: Numbeo Manama · numbeo.com · taxsummaries.pwc.com. Snapshot: 2026-10-17.