What is Varketili?
Varketili is the large Soviet housing estate at the eastern end of metro Line 1, on the hills between the Kakheti Highway and the Tbilisi Sea. Most of it went up in the 1980s, mostly as nine-storey blocks, and since the 2010s new towers and the Hualing "Tbilisi Sea New City" have grown around it. For a buyer it is one of the cheapest parts of Tbilisi with its own metro station: prices and rents in the Samgori zone are among the lowest in the city.
The name covers more than the official map does. Under Tbilisi City Council's decision No 16-35 of 2014, unit 17 "Varketili" of Samgori district is only the hill-top area north of "Fighters for the Unity of Georgia" Street, between Javakheti Street and Gakhokidze Street, stretching north towards the reservoir. The strip below it, with Varketili metro and the Upper Plateau, is officially unit 18, Mesame Masivi. Residents, developers and portals call both "Varketili", and this guide follows that everyday use while naming the unit where it matters. The wider Samgori district has its own guide, and Vazisubani lies across Javakheti Street to the west.
Map and boundaries
Varketili rises from the Kakheti Highway up Javakheti Street past the metro to the hill-top microdistricts, with the Hualing towers and the southern end of the Tbilisi Sea to the north-west and Gakhokidze Street on the east side.
Open the mapThe official line of unit 17 starts where "Fighters for the Unity of Georgia" Street crosses Gakhokidze Street, runs west to Javakheti Street, then follows a natural slope and a ravine to the Chughureti and Nadzaladevi district lines and crosses the narrow neck of the Tbilisi Sea before returning along Gakhokidze Street. By our measurement of the OpenStreetMap outline, that is about 6.9 km². OpenStreetMap tags Varketili metro, on Javakheti Street, as part of Mesame Masivi, and it also places the Hualing blocks on Viktor Kupradze Street, Tbilisi Sea Plaza and Tbilisi Sea Hospital inside unit 17. On ss.ge, a single "Varketili" filter mixes streets from both units, so an ad's street and microdistrict tell you more than the label.
Who Varketili suits
Suits
- Buyers on a tight budget who still want a metro station nearby.
- Families looking for a large Soviet-series flat with three or four rooms.
- Long-let investors aiming for a higher gross yield than central districts give.
- People who drive to the airport or to Kakheti.
Does not suit
- Buyers who want old Tbilisi streets and cafes outside the door.
- Short-stay hosts counting on tourists.
- Anyone who needs a fast daily commute to Vake or Saburtalo.
From state-farm orchards to a metro terminus
Georgian Wikipedia, citing the 2002 encyclopedia "Tbilisi", says the estate was built mainly from 1982 to 1988 on land of the Varketili state farm that had been fruit orchards, to designs by G. Shavdia, M. Bolkvadze and other architects. The Soviet plan had three massifs: Varketili I for 39,000 residents and Varketili II for 36,000, today both part of Mesame Masivi, and Varketili III for 48,000, which is today's Varketili with its microdistricts. By our arithmetic that is a design capacity of about 123,000 people, a plan figure rather than a census count. The farm's name survives as a place label, "Varketili farm", in street-naming decisions of the city council.
According to the Georgian Encyclopedia, Varketili station opened in 1985 together with Ghrmaghele and Temka, and it is still the eastern end of Line 1. In June 2015, Radio Liberty reported the opening in Varketili of a Yazidi community centre and prayer house on land given free of charge by the state. In the 2010s the Chinese group Hualing built its Tbilisi Sea New City next to the estate, and its Tbilisi Sea Plaza mall opened in 2017.
What flats cost and rent for
Galt & Taggart counts Varketili in its Samgori zone, and Geostat in Samgori district. Both put the area at or near the bottom of the city table, while asking prices on the portals are higher because they include renovated resale flats and new towers.
| Measure | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Samgori zone, new flats | USD 1,178 per m² | July 2026, 721 sales, about 17% below the city's USD 1,426 |
| Samgori zone, rent | USD 8.5 per m² a month | The lowest of 12 zones |
| Geostat district median | GEL 3,680 per m² | New flats, cheapest of 10 districts |
| ss.ge median asking price | USD 1,360 per m² | 111 ads; middle half USD 1,150 to 1,550 |
| Typical flat on ss.ge | USD 82,000 | Median size 62 m² |
| Developer starting prices | USD 900 to 1,300 per m² | Frame condition, projects under construction |
| ss.ge median rent | GEL 1,430 a month | 75 ads, about USD 550 |
Larger flats cost less per square metre. In our sample, one-room flats had a median asking price of USD 57,000, two-room flats USD 72,000, three-room flats USD 88,000 and four-room flats USD 114,000, falling from about USD 1,495 to USD 1,150 per m². ss.ge counts the living room as a room, so a "two-room" flat has one bedroom.
Ads seen on 22 October 2026 show the spread. In the Soviet stock, a "Czech project" four-room flat of 87 m² on Sukhishvili Street with an old renovation asked USD 86,000, about USD 989 per m², and a three-room "Lviv project" flat of 80 m² next to School No 178 asked USD 98,000. On the Hualing side, a renovated two-room flat of 52.2 m² on Kupradze Street asked USD 87,000, about USD 1,670 per m². In a newer block 250 metres from the metro on Khomleli Street, 46 m² on the 13th floor asked USD 75,000.
By our arithmetic, the ss.ge medians give a gross yield of about 7.8% (USD 550 a month on a 62 m² flat at USD 1,360 per m²), and the Galt & Taggart zone averages give about 8.7%. Both figures are before tax, empty months, fees and repairs. For comparison with other districts, see our page on rents by district.
New projects
Korter.ge listed 45 developments in Samgori district on 22 October 2026, and many carry the Varketili name. Among those with details on their pages:
- Seaside Varketili by Eden Development, 165d Gakhokidze Street: two 18-storey buildings with 672 flats, block A due in the second quarter of 2027 and block B in the second quarter of 2028, from USD 970 per m² in white frame.
- Varketili Residence by Royal Group, 176d Javakheti Street: one building due in the second quarter of 2027, from USD 900 per m² for larger flats in green frame. The project page gives two different floor counts, so ask the developer.
- Nova Park on Viktor Kupradze Street: 14 floors and 170 flats, from USD 1,150 per m², with no delivery date shown.
- Compact Varketili by Compact Development in the 4th microdistrict: 11 floors and 67 flats, due in the second quarter of 2027, from USD 1,300 per m².
- Archi Varketili 2 by Archi, 4 Irina Shtenberg Street: an 18-storey building with 300 flats, completed in 2023; resale flats there were advertised at about USD 1,546 to 1,849 per m².
Starting prices of USD 900 to 1,300 per m² are for unfinished flats, often still on paper or half built; finished resale flats in recent blocks ask about USD 1,400 to 1,850. Before you pay anything, run the developer through our developer checklist.
Soviet series flats
Much of what is for sale in Varketili is in nine-storey blocks that sellers describe by their Soviet design series: "Lviv project", "Czech project", "Moscow project" or "Tukhareli project". Local buyers use these names as shorthand for a known layout, and most of the large three- and four-room flats, which ask less per square metre than small new ones, are in such blocks. If the estate was built from 1982 to 1988, the blocks are now about 38 to 44 years old by our arithmetic.
A good Soviet flat can be a sound buy, but the price should reflect what the building needs. Look at the roof, the lift, the entrance stairwell and the outside walls, ask whether the residents' association collects money for repairs, and check whether the flat's plan in the Public Registry matches what you see, since many owners have closed in balconies or moved walls.
The Hualing side and the Tbilisi Sea
North-west of the Soviet microdistricts, along Viktor Kupradze Street and Marshal Jozef Pilsudski Avenue, lies the newer district that the Hualing group built, with Tbilisi Sea Plaza, a Carrefour Market and Tbilisi Sea Hospital. Sellers here write "near Hualing" in their ads, and asking prices are at the upper end of the Varketili range. The area is close to the southern shore of the Tbilisi Sea, but by our straight-line measurement it is roughly 1.7 to 2 km from Varketili metro, so most residents rely on buses. OC Media has described Tbilisi Sea Plaza as a mega-mall with few shoppers; check which shops are actually open before you count on it.
Getting around
Varketili station is the last stop on Line 1. By our straight-line measurement it is about 1.5 km from Samgori station, 5.8 km from Freedom Square and 7.4 km from Tbilisi International Airport; distances by road are longer. A ride costs GEL 1 on the metro, buses and municipal minibuses, with free transfers within 90 minutes. Bus 319, launched by the Tbilisi Transport Company in October 2021, runs from Varketili metro through Vazisubani towards Station Square, and other routes link the hill-top microdistricts and the Hualing side with the metro. Check numbers in the transport company's planner, as routes change.
The station itself has a troubled record. In January 2018, five months after a repair, part of its suspended ceiling fell and injured 14 people, JAMnews reported. A larger renovation by Bada Construction began in 2023 under a contract of GEL 13.4 million. In the summer of 2025 the station closed for about six weeks for safety work on its concrete arch, and Georgia Today reported in August 2026 that work had been suspended since 5 September 2025 after cracks were found in the upper hall's ceiling, with the deadline moved to 30 December 2026. Normal opening hours returned in March 2026, but expect some disruption while the work continues.
By car, the Kakheti Highway along the southern edge leads east to the airport and Kakheti and west to Isani; Javakheti Street is the main road up from the highway past the metro towards the Tbilisi Sea.
Schools, shops and parks
- Schools. A 2009 ministry list gives Varketili addresses for public schools No 105, 145, 152, 157, 176, 178, 179, 180 and 182. Numbers and buildings change, so confirm in the current register.
- Shopping. Tbilisi Sea Plaza with a Carrefour Market on the Hualing side; the East Point mall on Tvalchrelidze Street at the eastern edge, about 2.3 km from the metro; and the Svanebi bazaar near Javakheti Street, mentioned in ads as a local landmark.
- Health. Tbilisi Sea Hospital on Pilsudski Avenue, plus smaller clinics near the metro; an Evex polyclinic opened in 2022 just across Javakheti Street in Vazisubani.
- Parks. OpenStreetMap shows Riga Park in the 1st microdistrict, Ilia Sukhishvili Square and the Varketili Central Park named after Alisher Navoi. City Hall announced a rehabilitation of Riga Park of about GEL 4.5 million and a 13-hectare park in the Varketili gorge, but we found no record of either being completed.
Risks to weigh
The main risks are the age of the housing and the pace of new building. Most blocks are approaching their 40s, and we found no published count of buildings in emergency condition in Varketili or Samgori, so the condition of each block has to be checked on the spot. At the same time, 18-storey towers such as Seaside Varketili and a 34-storey block mentioned in an ad on Javakheti Street are adding residents along Gakhokidze, Kupradze and Javakheti streets, which means construction traffic and more competition for tenants.
Building on green space has been contested before. In January 2020, Caucasian Knot reported, residents who had protested for months against a block planned on a small park known as "Ann's Garden" lay down in front of machinery, and 10 of them were detained. We found no record of landslides or floods in Varketili, but the unit's western edge follows a slope and a ravine, so ask about retaining walls if a plot sits on the edge. The metro repairs, described above, are a further point to watch.
Air quality
Varketili has one of Tbilisi's official automatic air stations, classed as urban background, in the 1st microdistrict on Ilia Sukhishvili Street. Tbilisi State University researchers found that from 2017 to 2024 it averaged 16.1 µg/m³ of fine particles (PM2.5) and 32.6 µg/m³ of PM10, the lowest PM10 of the three city stations they studied; in 2024 the readings were 14.6 and 28.6. The PM2.5 figure is within the Georgian limit but, by our arithmetic, about 2.9 times the WHO guideline. The national air plan notes that ozone peaks at Varketili exceed the WHO-based indicator in most years, because there is less traffic pollution to break ozone down, and that too little nitrogen dioxide data was collected there for an annual figure.
Letting in Varketili
Long lets are the realistic plan. Our ss.ge sample put two-room flats at a median of GEL 1,300 a month and three-room flats at GEL 1,560, and several ads asked for two months' rent in advance. Korter.ge showed only 25 daily-rent ads for the whole of Samgori district, at about USD 30 to 35 a night for flats on Kupradze and Sukhishvili streets, too few to call a tourist market. Read our comparison of long-term and short-term letting before choosing.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Among the lowest prices in Tbilisi | Mostly 1980s blocks needing checks |
| Own metro station at the end of Line 1 | Station repairs delayed until the end of 2026 |
| Gross yield of about 7.8 to 8.7% | Lowest rents per m² of 12 zones |
| Large three- and four-room flats | Far from the centre and the business districts |
| Official air station in the area | Ozone peaks above the guideline |
To be added by the team: photos for the team to take: Varketili metro and Javakheti Street, a nine-storey "Czech project" block, the hill-top microdistricts, the Hualing towers on Kupradze Street, Tbilisi Sea Plaza, Seaside Varketili under construction and Riga Park.
Checking a flat in Varketili step by step
Find the microdistrict
Unit 17, Mesame Masivi or the Hualing side.
Time the walk to the metro
Or note the bus you would take.
Name the Soviet series
Lviv, Czech or Moscow project.
Inspect roof, lift and walls
And ask about the repair fund.
Compare with the registry plan
Closed balconies and moved walls.
Test the rent
Against GEL 1,300 for two rooms.
Frequently asked questions
Which district is Varketili in?
Samgori district, where it is unit 17; the metro area belongs to unit 18, Mesame Masivi.
How much does a flat in Varketili cost?
The ss.ge median was USD 1,360 per m² in October 2026, about USD 82,000 for 62 m².
What is the rent in Varketili?
The ss.ge median was GEL 1,430 a month; two-room flats about GEL 1,300.
When was Varketili built?
Mainly from 1982 to 1988, on former state-farm orchards.
When did Varketili metro open?
In 1985, as the eastern end of Line 1.
When will the metro station repairs end?
The deadline was moved to 30 December 2026.
Is Hualing part of Varketili?
OpenStreetMap places the Hualing blocks and Tbilisi Sea Plaza inside unit 17, Varketili.
How clean is the air in Varketili?
The local station read 14.6 µg/m³ of PM2.5 in 2024, within the Georgian limit.
Sources
- Tbilisi City Council decision No 16-35 on territorial units, 5 December 2014, and order No 197 on street names in Varketili farm, 10 July 2018, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 22 October 2026)
- Varketili, Georgian Wikipedia, and Varketili station, Wikipedia (accessed 22 October 2026)
- Tbilgvirabmsheni, Georgian Encyclopedia (accessed 22 October 2026)
- A home for Georgia's Yazidis, Radio Liberty, 16 June 2015
- Tbilisi residential real estate, July 2026, Galt & Taggart (accessed 22 October 2026)
- Residential property price index, second quarter of 2026, Geostat (accessed 22 October 2026)
- Flats for sale in Varketili and flats for rent in Varketili, ss.ge (accessed 22 October 2026)
- New projects in Samgori district, with Seaside Varketili, Varketili Residence, Nova Park, Compact Varketili, Archi Varketili 2 and daily rentals, korter.ge (accessed 22 October 2026)
- Ceiling collapse at Varketili metro, JAMnews, 30 January 2018, and Completion of Varketili metro station rehabilitation delayed by another four months, Georgia Today, 28 August 2026
- Varketili metro station to resume normal operations on March 16, 1TV, 11 March 2026, and new bus route 319, Tbilisi Transport Company, 20 October 2021
- Ten residents detained at a Varketili construction protest, Caucasian Knot, 11 January 2020
- Order No 934 of the Minister of Education and Science, 28 October 2009, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 22 October 2026)
- Air quality management plan for the Tbilisi agglomeration, 2024-2026, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, and Particulate matter in Tbilisi, 2017-2024, M. Nodia Institute of Geophysics, Tbilisi State University, November 2025 (accessed 22 October 2026)
- A mega-mall with few shoppers, OC Media, and Rehabilitation of two parks in Tbilisi starts and Rehabilitation of Varketili gorge begins, CBW (accessed 22 October 2026)
- Varketili, OpenStreetMap (accessed 22 October 2026)
Change log
- - Area guide published from the Tbilisi City Council decision on territorial units, the Georgian Encyclopedia, Georgian Wikipedia, Galt & Taggart and Geostat data, ss.ge and korter.ge listings, JAMnews, Georgia Today, 1TV, Radio Liberty, Caucasian Knot, OC Media, the Tbilisi air quality management plan and Tbilisi State University air research.