Georgia asks $150,000 for residency; Greece asks €400,000 or €800,000

Georgia: USD 150,000 of non-agricultural property, valued by an accredited assessor, for a renewable one-year permit. Greece: EUR 400,000 across most of the country, or EUR 800,000 in the high-demand zones the rules name, on a permit whose first renewal falls after five years. A reduced EUR 250,000 tier survives in Greece, but only for two narrow cases: converting non-residential property to residential where the change of use was legally completed after 5 April 2024, and restoring or reconstructing a listed building.

Greece's standard route also requires at least 120 square metres of main areas. Storage and parking do not count toward that area, although their value can count toward the sum when acquired under the same deed as ancillary spaces. That quietly rules out the small central apartment that would otherwise reach the price. Georgia sets no minimum area at all and allows several properties to be added together.

This is the sharper difference for anyone buying to let. A Greek golden-visa property cannot be let short-term under the sharing-economy framework or sublet, with revocation of the permit and a EUR 50,000 fine for a breach; long-term letting remains allowed. Georgia places no equivalent restriction on a property held for a residence permit. The same capital therefore behaves differently in the two markets, before any question of yield.

Greek residence is residence in a European Union member state, with the mobility that implies, and Georgian residence is not. So the honest comparison is not cost alone but purpose. A buyer who needs Schengen movement is not really choosing between these two. A buyer who wants a rentable asset and a renewable permit for roughly a fifth of the Greek entry price is choosing exactly between them.