Batumi property investment: calculating income and weighing risks

In advertising, Batumi property investment looks simple: buy an apartment by the sea, rent it out, collect your percentage. In practice the result depends on decisions made before the purchase: what kind of property, in which building, at what stage, who will manage it and how you will later exit the investment. This page is about making those decisions with numbers.

Strategies: where the income comes from

There are only a few ways to make money from property, and each has its own source of income and its own main risk. A rental house, meaning a house or guest house built to rent out, combines renting and construction, and with them the risks of both.

Yield: how to calculate the net figure

Yield is calculated from what is left for you, divided by everything you have put in. The order is:

1. Your total investment: the price of the apartment, fees and the notary, renovation, furniture, appliances and the months before the first tenant.
2. Revenue by month, with the season and the winter counted separately, at realistic occupancy.
3. The costs between the booking and your bank account: platform commissions, cleaning, utilities, the building's service charge, repairs, management.
4. Tax on the rent under your tax regime.
5. A reserve for the unexpected and for refreshing the renovation after a few years.

The annual amount left after all deductions, divided by your total investment, is your yield. Compare it with what the money would earn with no effort at all, for example in a bank deposit, and remember that the price of the apartment itself may rise or fall over those years.

Seasonality, liquidity and exiting the investment

Batumi has the most tourists between July and September. An apartment let short-term earns most of its revenue in these months, and in winter the costs can eat up almost everything. That is why we calculate the same property under two scenarios: short-term only, and short-term in summer with monthly rental in winter.

Liquidity shows how quickly, and without a big discount, you will be able to sell the property. It is assessed when you buy: how many similar apartments there are in the building and nearby, who the buyer will be in a few years, whether the layout will date. The exit is also worked out in advance. There is no tax if the home has been yours for more than 2 years. If you sell earlier, you pay 5% of the price difference, and for non-residential property the rate is 20%.

Off-plan, flipping, rental houses, commercial property and land

Buying off-plan

Buying at an early stage is tempting because of the price and the interest-free payment plan that many developers offer. But income is still a long way off: completion, the handover, renovation, furniture. The usual payment plan has no escrow, and payments go straight to the developer. We check the contract to see whether the project has a dedicated bank account or a bank guarantee.

If you plan to sell the apartment before completion, we read the assignment terms before the first payment. Tax on an assignment may be calculated differently from tax on selling an apartment; we check it in advance with a tax adviser.

Flipping

Buy an apartment in poor condition, renovate it and sell it: here the result depends on the estimate, the time the renovation takes and an accurate sale price. Partitions can be moved without a permit as long as load-bearing structures are not affected, and documented renovation costs reduce the tax on a sale within 2 years of ownership. But if you buy and sell regularly, the Revenue Service may treat it as a business, and the exemptions for housing will no longer apply.

A rental house

Your own house or guest house for rental gives you control over the layout and the costs, but it adds construction: the plot, the design, the permit from Batumi City Hall, the building work and management afterwards. We build such houses as a contractor and work out the rental figures before the design stage, so that the layout works for the income.

Commercial property and land

Premises with a tenant bring in money straight away. Empty ones wait for a tenant, and that empty period goes into the calculation. Land brings no income: it is bought for future construction or a rise in price, and you will still have to pay land tax. Agricultural land is closed to foreigners, so the plot's category is the first thing we check.

How to choose a district and a residential complex to invest in

We compare districts using the same measures as for apartments: how many minutes' walk to the sea and the boulevard, whether shops and cafes stay open in winter, how many new buildings are going up nearby (these are your future competitors for tenants and buyers) and how the street copes with downpours. For short-term rental the route to the sea matters more; for monthly rental, everyday life and quiet in winter.

In the complex itself we look at the management company, the service charge and the company's rules for short-term rental, the lifts, security and the number of similar studios. We judge the developer by its completed buildings: if the facades and windows of its earlier buildings coped badly with a couple of winters, the new one has the same odds.

Where Batumi property investment loses money

• Missed completion dates. We reduce this risk by checking the plot, the permit and the developer's completed buildings, and with a penalty clause in the contract.
• Many similar apartments in the building and around it. With oversupply, both the rental rate and the sale price come under pressure.
• Rule changes. In 2026 alone, the threshold for a residence permit and the threshold for the property tax exemption were raised and the tax on sales was clarified, so we revise the calculation with every change.
• Currency. The lari is the legal tender in Georgia, but the housing market prices in US dollars, and the exchange rate affects the result in your own currency.
• Climate and wear. Humidity and sea salt shorten the life of finishes and metal, and this is a permanent line in the costs.
• Management. Occupancy and the apartment's condition depend on who runs it.

We don't promise a yield and don't quote market-average percentages. We calculate the specific property using the steps above, and if you decide to buy, we can prepare it for rental and manage the letting.