How to buy an apartment in Georgia
The process for a foreign buyer: the registry check, off-plan versus finished, payment, registration, and the five checks that prevent costly mistakes.
Step 1 — Decide finished or off-plan
Finished and registered means you can inspect the actual apartment, register ownership within days, start renting immediately, and count the property toward a residence permit straight away. You pay more per square metre for that certainty.
Off-plan is cheaper, often by 20–30% against the finished price, and developers offer interest-free instalments through to handover. What you are accepting in exchange is delivery risk and the fact that you do not own anything until the building is registered. If a residence permit is part of your plan, that gap matters enormously — a 2029 handover is a 2029 permit.
Step 2 — Read the registry extract yourself
- Who the registered owner is today — and whether that is the person selling to you.
- The registered area in square metres. Compare it to the area in the price list. Balcony and terrace treatment varies between developers and is where the per-metre price quietly changes.
- Any mortgage, lien or court restriction. A developer who has pledged the building to a bank is not automatically a problem, but you need to know and you need a release mechanism written into your contract.
- The land designation, if land is attached.
Step 3 — Get an independent valuation
Do this even if you have no interest in residency. It is the cheapest possible check on whether the price you are being quoted resembles the market, and in a city where a foreign buyer and a local buyer are routinely quoted different numbers for the same building, that is worth having.
If residency is your reason for buying, the valuation is not optional and it is not a formality: the Public Service Development Agency assesses the appraised market value, not your contract price. A $152,000 contract that appraises at $141,000 fails.
Step 4 — Contract, payment, registration
Pay by bank transfer from an account in your own name. Cash payments are legal and are still a bad idea — a residence-permit file, a future buyer's lawyer, and your own bank at home will all eventually want to see where the money went.
Registration happens at the Public Registry or a Public Service Hall and is fast — often same-day or next-day for a finished property. You are the owner from the moment of registration, not from the moment of signature.
The five checks that prevent the expensive mistakes
- Cadastral code, not building name. Verify the specific unit, floor and area you are buying.
- Area definition. Ask in writing whether the quoted square metres include balcony, terrace and a share of common space. This alone can move the real price per metre by 15%.
- Developer track record. Ask which buildings they have already completed and registered, then go and look at one. Georgia has excellent developers and it has developers whose first project is still a hole in the ground.
- Finish specification in writing. 'Green frame', 'white frame' and 'full finish' mean different things to different companies. Get the list.
- Your own lawyer. A few hundred dollars against a six-figure purchase. The seller's lawyer is not your lawyer.
Common questions
How long does the whole purchase take?
For a finished, registered apartment with clean title, a week is realistic and a single day is possible. Off-plan is signed quickly but ownership only exists when the finished building is registered, which may be years away.
What does 'white frame' mean?
Structure, external walls, windows and utilities brought to the apartment, but no internal finishing — no flooring, no bathroom fittings, no kitchen. Budget roughly $250–450 per square metre to finish it, depending on standard.
Can I rent the apartment out while I live abroad?
Yes. Management companies in Batumi and Tbilisi handle letting, cleaning and guest turnover for a share of the revenue, typically 15–25%. Rental income is taxed at 5% for individuals under the standard regime.
Figures checked September 2026 against Colliers Georgia, Galt & Taggart, TBC Capital and Georgian government sources. Rules change; confirm anything you are about to act on.