Once Portugal and Spain closed their property routes, the shortlist for "buy an apartment, get residency, do not spend half a million euros" got very short. Two names survive most searches: Georgia and Turkey.
They are genuinely different products. One is cheap, simple and small. The other is expensive, complex and large. Here is the comparison without the brochure language.
The headline numbers
| Georgia | Turkey | |
|---|---|---|
| Property threshold for residence | 150,000 USD | 200,000 USD |
| Citizenship by property | Not available | 400,000 USD |
| Purchase taxes and fees | Effectively zero | Roughly 4 to 6 percent |
| Rental income tax | 5 percent flat, registered individuals | Progressive, into the tens of percent |
| Capital gains after holding | Zero after two years | Exempt after five years |
| Permit length | Typically 1 year, renewable | Typically up to 2 years, renewable |
| EU or Schengen access | No | No |
The threshold gap looks small. The total cost gap is not.
Where the real difference shows up
Transaction costs. This is the line that quietly decides the comparison. Georgia charges no purchase tax and no stamp duty; the registration fee at the public registry is measured in tens of dollars. Turkey levies a title deed transfer fee plus VAT exposure depending on the property and seller, and the stack typically lands somewhere around 4 to 6 percent.
On a threshold-sized purchase that is roughly 8,000 to 12,000 USD of pure friction in Turkey versus close to nothing in Georgia. That difference alone nearly closes the 50,000 USD gap in entry price, and it is money you never see again.
Ongoing tax. Georgia's flat 5 percent on residential rental income for registered individual landlords is one of the most generous regimes anywhere, and the reason gross yields of 7 to 10 percent survive largely intact into net returns. Turkey taxes rental income progressively, and the effective rate for a meaningful rental income climbs well past 5 percent. Our rental income guide walks through the Georgian numbers in detail.
Currency risk. This one runs against Georgia's favour less than people assume, but it is real on both sides. The Turkish lira has lost a great deal of value against the dollar over the past decade, which has been punishing for lira-denominated income and pleasant for dollar buyers picking up assets. The Georgian lari has been comparatively stable. If you are earning rent in local currency and spending in dollars or euros, this matters as much as the tax rate.
What Turkey has that Georgia does not
Three things, and they are not small.
A citizenship route. Turkey will sell you a passport for a 400,000 USD property investment held for three years. Georgia will not sell you one at any price. For buyers whose actual goal is a second citizenship with visa-free travel, this is the entire ballgame and Georgia is simply not competing.
Scale and liquidity. Turkey is a country of 85 million with a deep, internationally traded property market. Istanbul alone dwarfs the entire Georgian market. When you want to sell, there are more buyers. Georgia is under four million people, and while Tbilisi and Batumi have become genuinely liquid, it is a different order of magnitude.
Established infrastructure for foreign buyers. Turkey has spent years building the legal, banking and agency scaffolding for international purchasers. Georgia is lighter and faster but thinner.
What Georgia has that Turkey does not
Speed and simplicity. A Georgian purchase registers at the public registry in days, sometimes the same day. There is no purchase tax to compute, no residency requirement, no local partner, no company structure. Foreign buyers hold property in their own name with the same rights as citizens, with the single exception of agricultural land.
A tax regime that stays out of the way. Zero on purchase, near-zero to hold for most owners, 5 percent on rent, zero on gains after two years. Our property tax guide has every number.
Cost of entry. Not just the 150,000 versus 200,000 USD threshold, but what that money buys. In Tbilisi or Batumi, 150,000 USD buys a genuinely good central apartment. In Istanbul it buys considerably less well-located stock.
The honest verdict
If you want a passport, buy in Turkey. Georgia does not offer one and will not.
If you want residency plus yield at the lowest total cost, Georgia wins clearly, and it is not close once transaction and rental taxes are in the model. The 50,000 USD lower threshold understates the gap considerably.
If you want market depth and easy exit, Turkey is the safer bet, and buyers who expect to sell within a few years should weight that heavily.
If you need EU or Schengen access, neither works. Both are outside the EU. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise, and be sceptical of any agent who blurs this point, because it is one of the more common misrepresentations in this market. Our guide to the scams foreign buyers fall for covers the pattern.
Whichever you pick
Verify ownership at the public registry before money moves. In Georgia the check is free, instant and available to anyone, and we explain it in the title check guide. Turkey has an equivalent process through the land registry; use it.
Cross-border property purchases go wrong in the gap between what a seller claims and what the registry says. That gap is where essentially all of the expensive stories in this market live, in both countries.
If Georgia is the direction you are leaning, the complete buyer guide covers the process end to end, and the verified listings in Tbilisi and Batumi show what the threshold actually buys.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Thresholds and tax treatment in both countries change; figures are current as of 2026. Confirm with a qualified lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction before committing funds.