Batumi Georgia Real Estate/Property Analysis

[@kippsguitar6539]

3 years on and didn't this video age well, great work and great advice Giorgio and best wishes from beautiful batumi (renting of course), cheers

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

It did indeed. I think my videos on Bulgaria have aged really well. Property in Varna has risen 23.5% from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024

[@kippsguitar6539]

@@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375 great work, best wishes from beautiful Tbilisi, and I mean BEAUTIFUL! Feedback, if and when the war ends I think this place will have a partial exodus of Russians, apparently 30% have already left and this should have a major impact on real estate here both rental and sales, I also think if that happens it will present a fantastic opportunity to grab a bargain as it would be probably a temporary dip, cheers Giorgio

[@sargon4451]

Hello again from Batumi! Now I am in my fifth week in Batumi and I feel more upbeat about its prospects than ever before. I know you are fond of capital cities but when comparing Tbilisi to Batumi the latter wins hands down for the following reasons: 1) Batumi is a real city whereas Tbilisi is basically an overgrown town. Yes, it sounds crazy but it is true! Despite being ten times smaller in population Batumi due to its smaller size and many high rise buildings has a dynamic metropolis feel to it that Tbilisi simply does not. You can walk from the far north to the far south of Batumi in just two hours and from the sea to the far east in under an hour. The roads are straight and there are restaurants, cafes, modern shops and beautiful landmarks everywhere. Batumi is also much safer because it is easy to patrol by Police and there is CCTV literally on every building. 2) Batumi is never too cold and (almost) never too hot. Sure it rains a lot but that is a good thing because it keeps the air fresh. Batumi also has zero pollution and a modern fleet of buses that run frequently. Sure Batumi has traffic jams during the high season but because distances are small anyone can chose to walk instead of ride a car or bus which is not possible in traffic jam ridden Tbilisi. 3) Batumi's local population is richer than Tbilisi and everything looks clean and neat hence it is more desired and has better prospects for development. Sure Tbilisi is the capital and largest city so it has many people who are very well off. However it also has an underclass segment of economic migrants from small villages and depressed small towns in Georgia who came to Tbilisi to dig for gold but never found any.

[@didierdenice7456]

Having made Batumi my homebase I can confirm everything Mr Loukas said in this video. 👍 Again people usually pay substantiel money to get this level of professional consulting !

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Many thanks Didier for your kind words. Do you stay in Batumi in winter or do you go to somewhere warmer?

[@didierdenice7456]

@@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375 😂 The plan was originally that I would spend the winters in warmer and sunnier places... but it is impossible to travel these days and i have had several flight tickets cancelled by airlines. Anyway Batumi is not a bad place to be any time of the year. It is a real city contrary to Sunny Beach (Bulgaria). But like you I also very much like Varna. I just didn't meet the "person" who would hold me back there 😉

[@sbadrawi2011a]

Even if they paid substantial money, I am not sure they would get the same direct to the point, solid and honest advice as many consultants work with property developers and real estate agencies.

[@Abutaleb94]

Amazing to hear, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and thoughts

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

No problem Mohamed

[@mavutivepersonalfinancelif5326]

Always happy to see you're uploads in my sub box 😃

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Mavutive always a pleasure to see your comments

[@MC-MALTA]

Thanks for great honest information

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

My pleasure

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Please see links below to some of my other videos concerning real estate: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIKYoINneNurptU (Istanbul) kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6fNYoZvl9Gmatk (Qatar) kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmmqaYebhLCSjKM (New York) kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJ2mdYmYhLiWrrM (Italy) kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqDYoJStfq5_lZo (Australia) kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWOum4yOgtV2bcU (Bulgaria) kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5TEdHdof72leac (Cyprus) kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYPVhpR7hJx4jKc (Paris) kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXyah3-bp7Rqr7c (Hong Kong) kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpKcpJJ7qrmhpck (Tbilisi) kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipqxo4hrfausetU (Montenegro) kzbin.info/www/bejne/joO1YZ2CaZegnK8 (Estonia) kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZuyfZifl7FliJY (Cambodia) kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWGqiKSVaMmdl5Y (Malaysia) kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5ecm3mIqpyYh5o (South Africa) kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn6WdKelbbKDoqM (Belarus)

[@jlregali]

In Tbilisi there is also oversupply.

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Hi jregali thanks for your feedback but I do not believe that there is an oversupply especially in the center.

[@sbadrawi2011a]

Even if there is an over supply, with time the prices will recover due to less space for building new projects and constant demand.

[@abdelali6682]

Hi Giorgio. Another nice video. If you have to buy an apartment, which one would you choose between tbilisi and Istanbul? Will appreciate your answer. Keep up the good work.

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Thanks Abdel that is an excellent question. I would say that potentially the rewards are higher in Istanbul not least because in USD terms the prices are very low however I also think there is more risk in Istanbul mainly currency risk but also some political risk so I would not put all or indeed the majority of my assets in the Istanbul property market. Tbilisi is a safer bet put the rewards in future may not be as high.

[@kalyanb5405]

Hi Giorgio, Your videos are very informative. I would like to know your opinion .. Which would be best investment either Tbilisi or Varna for foreigner.(if anything else pls specify). Thanks. Also if you have time please make a video on Top 10 best investments in world cities. Thanks in advance.

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Thanks Kalyan for your feedback. It really depends on your risk profile. I personally prefer Varna because there is virtually no downside and for an EU country and a stable currency (the lev is tied to the EURO and Bulgaria has very little debt) I think the prices represent excellent value. The yields are good as well. Tbilisi has more potential for price growth than Varna in as much as it is a capital and is a less mature market than Varna. Also taxes are incredibly low and yields are excellent however the Georgian Lari is not as stable as the Bulgarian Lev so there is more currency risk which could affect your investment. I will in the future do my top ten real estate cities in the future

[@sargon4451]

I partially agree with your analysis but I am more optimistic for Batumi's prospects than you seem to have been a year ago (at the same time I feel Tbilisi is a bubble waiting to burst). Yes, supply of newly built units in Batumi vastly outstrips demand but at least a third, maybe even 40% of the newly built residential buildings have too few elevators, too thin walls, too little parking spaces and use cheap Chinese made facade materials that will fade, rust and make the building look unattractive in less than a decade which is why they will probably never be popular and never appreciate in price. However, a majority of new buildings are of a high quality (for Georgia's standards) and they are filling up and will have a decent resale value in future for three main reasons: 1) Georgia is a country with much better demographics than Bulgaria or other Eastern European countries (90% of people in Georgia marry and have children which is almost a novelty in countries like Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Montenegro, Croatia and Ukraine where 60% or less do so) and thanks to the 5% - 6% annual growth rates salaries are growing at a much higher rate in Georgia than they do in the countries I mentioned so local demand will increase over time. 2) Contrary to what you claim in this video there is very limited space to build on in Batumi (just see the city from a drone and realise it for yourself) which is the exact opposite to the situation in Tbilisi that has vast potential building space as the suburbs can be extended for miles on end. 3) Tbilisi has an aging and ugly airport that is situated a 25 - 40 minute drive depending to where in Tbilisi you live whereas Batumi has a choice of three airports that are modern and new (Batumi Airport, Kutaisi Airport, Rize-Artvin Airport). If these three reasons were not enough also consider that the world is experiencing global cooling since at least three years and people prefer to live near the coast especially in winter where they can soak some vitamin D from the sun which is the best healer in a pandemic. Bottom line is I think Batumi is a much better investment than is Tbilisi but one must choose the development carefully, make sure not to over pay and perhaps wait until the end of 2022 to invest because the new variant of the Corona virus will again cause travel disruptions and could depress prices further in coming months.

[@kippsguitar6539]

Do you know if the 100k real estate residency can be achieved by accumulating 2 50k properties over a period of time, IE 50k apartment this year and another 50k flat next year qualified us for residence? Great channel thanks

[@didierdenice7456]

Yes !

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Hi Kipps yes it can

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Thanks for confirming Didier

[@kippsguitar6539]

@@didierdenice7456 thanks very much

[@kippsguitar6539]

@@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375 thanks again, great knowledge, great channel

[@zampieritto]

But to buy in georgia is at least an investment of more than 100000 euros. Just check the government site

[@saveandinvestwithgiorgiolo8375]

Hi Edzz Edzz I think you will find that a minimum 100,000 USD purchase is needed to apply for residency but otherwise you can purchase for less