Georgia compared with other countries for property and residency

How we compare countries, and why there is no winner

Comparisons are the pages most likely to be written badly, because they are usually written by someone selling one of the two options. Ours are written by a Georgian agency, and we say so on every page; the method below is how we keep the comparison honest anyway. The figures for the other country come from that country's official sources, not from agents there, and every figure carries a date. Where we cannot source a figure for the other side, the cell says "not verified" rather than carrying a number we found on a forum.

The nine criteria, applied to both sides

Georgia's side of the table

Georgia's entries are the same in every comparison, so they are stated once here and linked, not repeated. Foreigners own residential and commercial property outright on the same terms as citizens, with agricultural land as the exception. A residence permit is available through non-agricultural property worth more than $150,000, valued by an accredited appraiser, for one year at a time, renewable while the property is kept and extendable to spouse and children; a $300,000 investment opens a five-year permit whose conditions we are still confirming. In the first quarter of 2026 the published averages stood at $1,300 to $1,500 per square metre for Tbilisi and over $1,600 for Batumi, and Galt & Taggart report an average gross rental yield of 8.6% in Tbilisi in December 2025. The market is large and liquid, with over 59,000 apartment sales in the two cities in 2025, and it has a very large construction pipeline in Tbilisi. Taxes and purchase costs are covered on their own pages once our accountant and lawyer have confirmed the figures. The details and the sources behind each of these statements are on the Residency, Invest & money and Places pages.

Verdicts by buyer type

A comparison that ends with "Georgia wins" or "Dubai wins" has thrown away its own table. Instead, each page closes with short verdicts for the buyer types we actually meet, which are described on the home page: the family moving for a year or more, the remote investor who will rarely visit, the buyer whose goal is a residence permit, the holiday-home owner and the returning Georgian. For each type the verdict names the two or three criteria that dominate their decision and says which side those criteria favour. A buyer who wants a long-term visa with no annual renewal may be better served elsewhere; a buyer who wants outright ownership at a low entry price with a short flight may be better served in Georgia. The page says which, and why, and leaves the choice with the reader.

The Middle East and Mediterranean comparisons

The first group sets Georgia against the places that compete for the same buyers from Israel, the Gulf and Russian-speaking countries. Dubai is the most frequent comparison we are asked for: a far larger market with a different ownership model by zone, a different residency system tied to investment thresholds, and a different tax position. Turkey and specifically Antalya compete with Batumi for seaside buyers, with their own citizenship-by-investment and residency rules that have changed repeatedly. Northern Cyprus attracts price-sensitive buyers and raises title questions that no other comparison does. Cyprus and Montenegro are smaller markets with European residency angles. Each page applies the nine criteria and takes particular care with the residency row, because the permits in these countries differ in term, cost and what they lead to, and buyers often compare the headline threshold without comparing what the permit actually gives.

The European comparisons

The second group compares Georgia with the European golden visa destinations that readers from Israel, the Gulf and beyond often consider in the same breath: Greece, Portugal and Spain. These programmes have been changing, with thresholds raised, property routes narrowed or closed and regions excluded, so the European pages carry their figures with especially prominent dates and are re-checked whenever a rule changes. The comparison is rarely about yield; it is about the value of EU residency against the cost and the restrictions, set against Georgia's lower entry price, outright ownership and a permit that is simpler but shorter and non-EU. For a buyer whose goal is a base in Europe, the European option may win regardless of price; for a buyer whose goal is an affordable second home with income, the table usually points the other way. The page says so for each buyer type.

Reading a comparison table without being misled

Four mistakes appear in almost every comparison we are sent by readers, and the pages here are built to prevent them. The first is comparing residency thresholds without comparing what the permit gives: a higher threshold for a longer, renewable-free permit that leads somewhere is not the same product as a lower threshold for a one-year permit, and the row on residency on our pages always states term, renewal and family inclusion next to the amount. The second is comparing gross yields across currencies and tax systems as if they were net: a yield in one country with no rental tax and a yield in another with a flat tax and high building charges are not comparable until both are taken to net, which is why our yield row carries the usual deductions for both sides. The third is treating purchase costs as a one-off and ignoring annual costs: a country with low transfer taxes and high property tax can cost more over ten years than the reverse, so the tables show both. The fourth is confusing residence with citizenship or permanent residence: several of the compared countries market programmes whose end point is different from Georgia's, and a buyer who wants a passport is making a different decision from a buyer who wants to live somewhere. Read the row headings as carefully as the figures.

Rules we follow on every comparison page

1. Same criteria, same order

   Nine rows, both columns filled, in the same order on every page, so that a reader who has read one comparison can read the next in half the time.

2. Official sources on both sides

   The other country's figures come from its land registry, immigration authority, tax authority or central bank, with a link and an access date. Agency blogs and forums are not sources.

3. Estimates labelled

   Yields and running costs are estimates everywhere. They are marked as such on both sides and the assumptions are stated.

4. Our interest declared

   Every comparison page states that it is written by a Georgian agency and links to the independence page, which explains how we are paid.

5. Re-checked on change

   When either country changes a threshold, a tax or a rule, the page returns to review, the change log records the update, and the figures are re-dated.

How this section is organised

Two groups: the Middle East and Mediterranean, and Europe. Each page is one pair of countries, or one pair of cities where the comparison is really between resorts. If you want the Georgian figures without the comparison, go directly to Invest & money and Residency. If you want advice for buyers from your own country rather than a comparison between destinations, that is in By country. The residency checker and the yield calculator let you test Georgia's side of any comparison with your own numbers. If you are weighing Georgia against a country we have not covered, tell us: the comparisons are written in the order readers ask for them.