Why 2025 Was Batumi's Year — and What It Really Says About 2026

When a market closes a year with numbers like these, the brochures write themselves. My job is the opposite: take the real numbers and also tell you what the brochures cut.

The three numbers that matter

First: prices. Batumi's turnkey primary market closed 2025 at an average of $1,865/sqm, up 9.4% year on year (Galt & Taggart). The most expensive submarket, Old Batumi, trades at $3,028/sqm. For scale: a one-bed in central Split costs nearly $7,000/sqm, in Varna over $3,200 (TBC Capital, January 2026). The same function — an income-producing second home on a tourist coast — at a fraction of the capital.

Second: demand. 2025 was Georgian tourism's record year: 7.8 million international travellers (+5.9%) and 5.52 million tourist visits, an all-time high (GNTA). The figure that interests me most as a consultant isn't the total — it's the mix. Arrivals from Italy +39%, from the UK +39%, from Spain +49%. Your apartment's tenant base is diversifying, and that shortens seasonality.

Third: yields. Average gross rental yield touched 8.6% in June 2025, settling at 7.4% by September (Galt & Taggart). Above Lisbon (5.9%), Budva (5.5%) and Nice (4.6%). Just below Dubai (9.0%) — at incomparable entry prices.

What the brochures don't print

Now the part that makes me unpopular with salespeople: Galt & Taggart flags oversupply in the primary market, and short-stay rental stock is projected to double by 2029.

Plainly: buying "at random" in Batumi today is the best way to compress tomorrow's yields. The gap between a well-selected project and one bought off a render will widen, not narrow.

What this says about 2026

Galt & Taggart's 2026 forecast for the primary market is +4–6%: healthier, less euphoric growth. For anyone entering now, that means two things. One: the low-entry-price window isn't closed, but it isn't eternal. Two: selection — district, developer, format — now outweighs timing.

The macro fundamentals remain the real engine: GDP growing 9.3% a year on average since 2021 (Geostat), one of the world's simplest purchase procedures, and residential rental income taxed at 5%.

Whether these numbers hold for your situation — tax residency, structure, horizon — is exactly what a 45-minute consultation establishes. And if they don't, I'll be the first to say so.