The minimum deposit on a Georgian mortgage is now 10% — and non-residents are borrowing too

Citing National Bank of Georgia data, Georgia Today reported that banks issued 12,835 mortgages worth 1.28 billion lari in the first quarter of 2026 — a fifth more loans than a year earlier and a third more by value. The average loan was about 99,600 lari, up from roughly 89,500 lari in the same quarter of 2025. Two things sat behind the jump: the minimum down payment fell from 15% to 10%, and the average lari mortgage rate was down about 1.45 percentage points year on year, at 11.88% in March.

A separate report by GBC, drawing on the central bank's monthly review, described mortgage issuance to non-residents rising: in December 2025 banks wrote about 220 foreign-currency mortgages worth some 40 million lari, plus 55 lari-denominated loans worth 8 million. Dollar mortgage rates were described as starting from 8%. The volumes are small next to the resident market, but they answer a question foreign buyers ask constantly — whether borrowing here is possible at all without living here.

A 10% deposit lets a buyer in sooner, but it also means borrowing more, paying interest on more, and holding less equity if prices stall. At double-digit lari rates the interest cost is the dominant number in the first years of the loan, not the purchase price. Anyone weighing it should compare the total repaid over the term at 10% down against the same flat at 20% or 30% down, and decide whether the earlier entry is worth that difference.

Terms for non-residents are set bank by bank and are not a published rate card: the deposit required, the currency offered, the documents demanded and whether income earned abroad counts all vary. Ask two or three banks directly rather than relying on an agent's summary, get the offer in writing, and check whether the rate is fixed or floating and what triggers a change. A loan priced in a currency you do not earn in adds an exchange-rate risk on top of the interest.