Latvian Real Estate Agents Share Their Impressions of a Trip to Georgia and Talk About Low Property Prices and Residence Permits

“Delicious, warm, cosy and vivid”—this is roughly how Aleksandrs Cikunovs, owner of the “VIP Real” agency, describes Georgia on the popular social network Facebook. He deals in premium real estate in Riga and Jūrmala.

Lara Batova, co-owner of “VIP Real” and Aleksandrs Cikunovs’s wife, is delighted by property prices in Georgia: “A new development in central Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia— editor’s note), overlooking the river, starts at USD 1,500 per square metre, unfinished. The most expensive apartments cost USD 3,000–4,000 per square metre. There are also some special gems, such as the former home of the mayor of Amsterdam.”

According to data from the “Doing Business” website, Georgia ranks first in the world in terms of the speed of completing real estate transactions. Completing a transaction—signing the contract, making the payment at a bank, registering the rights in the registry and receiving the document confirming ownership—takes a maximum of \n2–3 hours!”

“Moreover,” Lara Batova continues, “in Georgia, all real estate purchase and sale transactions are concluded at branches of the National Agency of Public Registry, which are under the jurisdiction of the Houses of Justice and are located in several cities throughout the country. Georgian legislation allows foreign nationals to freely purchase any real estate, with the exception of agricultural land. There is no real estate purchase tax in Georgia. The real estate agent’s commission is approximately 5%.”

Real estate sales specialists also point to the simplified procedure for obtaining a residence permit in Georgia compared with obtaining one in Latvia.

Foreigners wishing to stay in Georgia for more than 90 days must obtain a temporary residence permit. This document is issued for a maximum period of six years, with the possibility of extension.

The grounds for obtaining a residence permit in Georgia are as follows: employment, education, a course of treatment, or guardianship or custody of Georgian citizens. The document may also be obtained by the spouses, parents or children of Georgian citizens. Additionally, a residence permit can be issued under a programme applicable when real estate costing 100,000 or more lari is purchased (approximately EUR 34,000—editor’s note).

“My overall impression of the country is: hospitable, vivid, delicious, cosy, warm and inexpensive!”—with these words Lara Batova concludes her account.