Tbilisi against Sofia: apartments cost roughly half as much, and gross yields come out about half again higher

Numbeo's comparison, with Tbilisi data current to 6 October and Sofia to 11 October 2026, puts central Sofia 83.3% above central Tbilisi per unit of floor area, and 129.0% above it outside the centre. In euro per square foot that is 366.07 against 199.69 in the centre, and 266.39 against 116.35 outside — roughly €3,940 against €2,150 a square metre centrally, and €2,870 against €1,250 further out, converting at 10.764 square feet to the square metre. Gross rental yield runs the other way: 6.32% in central Tbilisi and 7.28% outside it, against 4.02% and 4.05% in Sofia.

The same comparison shows the other half of the picture. Tbilisi's price-to-income ratio is 13.73 against Sofia's 11.04, and the mortgage-cost-to-income measure is 188.59% against 72.77%, giving a loan affordability index of 0.53 against 1.37. In plain terms: an apartment in Tbilisi costs less in absolute money but more relative to what a local household earns, and local borrowing is far heavier relative to local income than it is in Bulgaria. That gap is the practical reason Georgian yields are higher — a thinner mortgage-financed domestic buyer base keeps purchase prices down relative to rents.

Numbeo is crowd-sourced, so the figures are indicative rather than audited transaction data, and a thin sample can move a city's reading. They are useful for the shape of a comparison and poor for a decision on a single property. Two other things do not appear in the table at all and belong in the same calculation: Bulgaria is inside the European Union and Georgia is not, which affects financing, currency and resale market; and Georgian gross yield is not Georgian net yield, once agency fees, vacancy, utilities, repairs and rental income tax come out. Treat the comparison as a reason to look, and then price the specific building.