Buying Property in Georgia as a Foreigner: What You May Buy, the Registry and the Tax
A foreign individual or company may buy an apartment, a house, commercial premises or non-agricultural land in Georgia in its own name, and it is registration at the Public Registry, not the contract or the payment, that makes the buyer the owner. What may be bought, the checks before money moves, the off-plan and valuation pitfalls, and the taxes an individual owner pays on holding, renting and selling.
A foreigner may buy real estate in the country of Georgia in their own name: an apartment, a house, commercial premises or a plot of non-agricultural land, as an individual or through a company, with no local partner and no permission to obtain first. What makes the buyer the owner is not the contract and not the payment but the registration of the transfer at the National Agency of Public Registry. Agricultural land is the exception, dealt with below.
Registry
What makes you the owner
Ownership passes on registration at the Public Registry, not on signing or paying
USD 150,000
Market value for the property residence permit
Set by a certified appraiser, not the contract price; USD 100,000 before 1 March 2026; at the time of writing
GEL 100,000
Family income below which an individual's property is exempt
Law No 1874 of 30 September 2026; 0.8% to 1% of market value above it; confirm the current text
15th
Day of the following month for the gain return
A natural person's gain on property sold outside business is declared by the 15th of the month after the sale, as the Tax Code reads at the time of writing
A foreigner may buy apartments, houses, premises and non-agricultural land
Foreign individuals and foreign-owned companies hold apartments, houses, commercial premises and non-agricultural land in Georgia in their own name. There is no foreign-buyer approval, no requirement to hold the property through a Georgian company, and no residence requirement. The same property can later support the residence permit route on real property, which counts any real property except agricultural land with a market value above USD 150,000 set by a certified appraiser of an accredited body, at the time of writing. Our residence permit guide for founders describes that route.
Agricultural land is different. Foreign ownership of agricultural land is restricted by Georgian law and the rules have changed several times. The registry extract of a plot states its designation; if it reads as agricultural, do not sign anything until the current rules have been confirmed for your case. A plot that cannot be registered to you cannot support a permit either.
Registration at the Public Registry is what makes you the owner
A sale of real estate in Georgia is a written contract between seller and buyer, followed by the registration of the buyer's title at the National Agency of Public Registry. The registry's record is public: anyone can obtain an extract showing the registered owner, the property's designation and area, and the encumbrances recorded against it, such as a mortgage, a seizure or a lease. Until the transfer is registered, the buyer has only a contractual claim against the seller. The registry's current procedure, tracks and fees are confirmed before the contract is signed, because they change.
Ownership of immovable property is acquired on the basis of a transaction concluded in writing and the registration of the acquirer's right in the Public Registry. The registry record is presumed accurate and complete, and an entry is treated as accurate in favour of a person who acquires a right from the registered holder, unless a complaint against the entry has been filed or the acquirer knew it was wrong.
- 1
Obtain a fresh extract from the Public Registry, dated the week you sign, and read the owner, the designation, the area and every encumbrance.
- 2
Verify the seller: the signatory is the registered owner, or holds a notarised power of attorney that covers a sale of this property; for a company seller, its extract shows who may sign.
- 3
For an apartment, check that the building and the unit are registered and that the area in the extract matches the flat you saw, including any extension or redivision.
- 4
Clear the encumbrances in the contract: a mortgage is released against the purchase money, a seizure is lifted before registration, and a registered lease passes to you with the tenant in it.
- 5
Agree in writing how the money moves: payment against the registration of your title, or into an escrow the parties trust, not a transfer on signing with registration to follow.
- 6
Prepare your source-of-funds file before the transfer, with a translation of the contract, because the bank that moves the purchase money will ask where it came from.
The pitfalls we see: off-plan purchases, the valuation and the money trail
- Off-plan purchases. An apartment that does not yet exist cannot be registered to you. Until the unit is built and registered in your name, you hold a contract claim against the developer, and the clauses that matter are the payment schedule, the completion date, the penalty for delay and what happens if the developer fails. A low price in a sales office is a price for a promise, not for a title.
- The valuation. The property residence permit needs a market value above USD 150,000 from a certified appraiser of an accredited body, at the time of writing. A contract price is not a valuation, and a property bought near the threshold can fall under it on appraisal: have the appraisal before you commit. Whether a permit issued at the old USD 100,000 level renews without reaching USD 150,000 is not settled by the text and is confirmed case by case.
- Source of funds. The purchase money passes through a bank, which must understand where a large transfer came from before it moves. Assemble the trail in advance, as our article on source-of-funds documents sets out: the event that produced the money, proof that you received it and every account it passed through.
| What you buy | What you hold once registered | Permit route |
|---|---|---|
| Finished apartment or house | Ownership on the public record, in your name | Property permit above USD 150,000; investment permit above USD 300,000 |
| Off-plan unit | A contract claim until the unit is built and registered to you | None until registration |
| Commercial premises | Ownership; rent from it is Georgian-source income | Same thresholds |
| Non-agricultural land | Ownership; a company owner also pays land tax by area | Same thresholds |
| Agricultural land | Restricted for foreign owners; rules confirmed case by case | Excluded |
What an individual owner pays: property tax, tax on rent and tax on the gain
Three taxes follow an individual who owns real estate in Georgia, and none is collected at the registry. The first is the annual property tax: an individual is taxed on the market value of the real estate and certain vehicles they own, by reference to the family's income, on a return the individual files. Under Law No 1874 of 30 September 2026, applied to the tax declared in 2026, an individual's property other than land is exempt where the family's income in the preceding year did not exceed GEL 100,000; above that the Tax Code sets the rate at 0.8% to 1% of market value. Older summaries still show the earlier bands, so confirm the current text. As the Code reads at the time of writing, the individual files the return by 1 November of the year after the one in which the property was held, the Revenue Service assesses the tax from it, and the tax is paid by 15 November; the dates are confirmed each year. A company that owns the property is taxed differently, up to 1% of net book value with a 1 April return; our article on property tax for companies covers it.
The second is the tax on rent. Rent from property in Georgia is Georgian-source income whoever the tenant is and wherever the money is paid. At the time of writing an individual pays 20%, or 5% on income from renting out residential premises for residential purposes where the landlord takes no deductions; which applies to your lease, and how it is declared, is confirmed before the first lease is signed. Where the tenant is a company, an organisation or an individual entrepreneur, the Code makes the tenant a tax agent that withholds the tax from the rent; the 5% rate on a letting to a legal person follows a procedure set by the Minister of Finance. The third is the tax on the gain when you sell. A gain on selling property in Georgia is Georgian-source income for a resident and a non-resident alike, with its own return due by the 15th of the month after the sale, at the time of writing; the Code taxes a natural person's gain on a residential apartment or house with its land at 5%, and exempts it where the property was owned for more than two years counted from the registration of title, as the Code reads at the time of writing.
| Event | Tax | Who declares, and when |
|---|---|---|
| Holding the property | Property tax: exempt below GEL 100,000 family income; 0.8% to 1% of market value above | The owner, on a return filed by 1 November; the tax is paid by 15 November, as the Code reads |
| Letting it | 20%; or 5% on residential rent without deductions | The landlord, in the annual return; a company or entrepreneur tenant withholds at source as a tax agent |
| Selling at a gain | 5% on the gain on a home with its land; exempt after more than two years of ownership | The seller, by the 15th of the following month |
A buyer who wanted a flat, a permit and some rent
Daniel, a software consultant, buys a two-bedroom apartment in Tbilisi for USD 158,000, intending to live in it, apply for the property residence permit and let it out when he travels. He plans to pay on signing and register the week after.
- 1The fresh extract shows a mortgage in favour of the seller's bank. The contract is redrafted so that the purchase money is paid against the mortgage release and the registration of Daniel's title in the same session, not a week earlier.
- 2A certified appraiser values the flat at USD 149,000, below the USD 150,000 the property permit needs at the time of writing. The contract price does not help him: he finds a property the appraiser values above the threshold, or plans his stay on another basis.
- 3He lets the flat for GEL 2,400 a month while abroad to an individual renting for residential purposes, and takes no deductions, so the 5% rate applies as the Code reads at the time of writing: GEL 120 a month, declared in his annual return. Let as an office, it would carry the general 20% on taxable income.
- 4His family's income the year before was GEL 90,000, under the GEL 100,000 line of Law No 1874, so the flat is exempt from the individual's property tax that year; the year his income passes the line, 0.8% to 1% of market value applies.
- 5Three years later he sells for USD 185,000. A residential apartment owned for more than two years falls within the exemption as the Code reads at the time of writing; sold after eighteen months, the gain would be taxed at 5% and the return due by the 15th of the following month.
The purchase went through because the money moved against the registration, not before it. The permit did not, because the appraisal, not the price, is the test. The rent cost 5% and the sale cost nothing, on the rules at the time of writing.
Illustrative. The figures are invented, the rates and thresholds are those in force at the time of writing, and each step turns on the current text and the facts of the case, confirmed before anything is signed or filed.
What this article does not answer
It does not state the Public Registry's fees or tracks, confirmed before the contract is signed, or the current rules on agricultural land, confirmed plot by plot. It does not compute the individual's property tax, which the Revenue Service assesses from the return, and it does not cover the property tax a company pays on real estate, which has its own article. It does not say what your home country will tax when you buy, let or sell abroad. We review the extract and the contract, structure the payment against registration, prepare the source-of-funds file and the permit application where the property supports one, and set out in writing how the Georgian taxes apply to your ownership. We do not act as estate agents, we do not carry out valuations and we cannot promise a permit.
Next step
The permit the property may carry
If the purchase is meant to support a residence permit, the appraisal and the sequence of the purchase decide it. We check the route in writing before you commit to a property.
See the residence permit routeGeneral information, not legal or tax advice. The acquisition and registration of real estate are governed by the Civil Code of Georgia and the Law on the Public Registry, the residence permit on real property by the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons, and the taxes by the Tax Code of Georgia. Thresholds, rates and dates reflect the position at the time of writing and change; the official Georgian text governs.