Foreign buyers took 52% of Batumi sales, and 12,400 flats stayed unsold
Galt & Taggart's review of the Batumi market, reported by Investor.ge in April, holds two facts that have to be read together. Foreign buyers accounted for 52% of apartment sales in 2025, with Israeli buyers alone at 13% of the total. At the same time, unsold apartments in the developer projects surveyed stood at about 12,400 at the end of the year, up nearly 14% on a year earlier. A market more than half dependent on foreign demand is carrying a year's worth of stock it has not placed.
The year the numbers describe
The review records 17,478 apartment sales in Batumi in 2025, up 15% on the year, in a market worth roughly USD 1.3 billion and growing almost 24% by value — though still short of the 2023 peak. Sales were heavily concentrated: more than 6,800 transactions in the New Boulevard area and nearly 4,000 along the Alley of Heroes. Those two districts carry a large share of what gets built, bought and later let in the city.
Why a 52% foreign share is a risk line
Foreign demand is not a weakness in itself; it is what built the modern Batumi skyline. The risk is correlation. Domestic buyers respond to Georgian wages, Georgian mortgage rates and local confidence, and they do not all react to the same event at the same time. A foreign buyer base concentrated in a few countries can pause together, over a currency move, a flight-price change, a conflict or a rule change at home that has nothing to do with Georgia. With a single nationality at 13% of all sales, a quiet year in one country is visible in Batumi's figures.
Unsold stock is the other half of the sentence
About 12,400 unsold apartments in surveyed projects, up roughly 14% in a year, means inventory is building faster than it is being absorbed. For a buyer that is leverage: unsold stock is what makes a developer negotiate on price, payment schedule or finish. For an owner trying to resell a recent purchase, it is competition — your flat is being compared with new units from the developer next door, who can offer a discount you cannot match. Which side of that you are on should decide your timing.
The forecast is flat, not falling
The review describes 2026 as a year of consolidation rather than expansion, with primary-market sales projected broadly flat and price growth forecast at 4% to 6% a year. It also notes how wide the city's internal range is: Old Batumi averages above USD 3,000 per square metre while peripheral zones sit below USD 1,500. A forecast of 4% to 6% is a city average spread across both. Anyone using it to value one specific flat is using the wrong number, and the district matters more than the forecast.
Written by us from the source linked above, not investment, legal or tax advice. Figures and rules change — confirm anything that matters before acting on it.
