Georgia against Bulgaria: 7.25% gross against 4.27%, on the same sea

Global Property Guide's third-quarter 2026 survey puts Georgia's average gross rental yield at 7.25%, with Tbilisi at 7.23% and Batumi at 7.28%. The same survey puts Bulgaria's national average at 4.27%. Both figures are gross: the guide's own note is that net yields usually land one and a half to two points below the gross number once tax and upkeep are paid.

The comparison buyers actually make is Batumi against Burgas or Varna, and there the gap narrows without closing. Burgas is the strongest Bulgarian city in the survey at 4.72% and Varna sits at 4.29%, against Batumi's 7.28%. Sofia, at 3.84%, is the weakest yielder in the Bulgarian set — capital cities usually are, because buyers there are paying for capital growth as well as rent.

Georgia's headline yield is not spread evenly. Studios return 8.35% in Batumi and 8.03% in Tbilisi, while three-bedroom flats in Batumi return 6.00% and two-bedrooms 6.69%. Anyone using the country average to price a large seafront apartment is using the wrong number; the average is being pulled up by the smallest stock, which is also the stock most exposed to seasonality and to new supply.

A three-point gap is a risk premium, and it is worth naming what sits inside it. Bulgaria is an EU member with the legal and consumer protections that carry, and a buyer there is holding an asset priced in euros. Georgia offers a simpler and cheaper purchase, no restriction on how many flats a foreigner may own, and a lighter tax regime — against a smaller economy, a currency that moves, and a rental market whose asking rents have been falling for three years. Neither set of numbers tells you which to buy; they tell you what you are being paid to accept.