Let us answer the question everyone actually types into the search bar: yes, foreigners can get mortgages from Georgian banks, and no, most foreign buyers do not end up using them. Both halves of that sentence matter, and the second one is not the disappointment it sounds like, because the alternatives in this market are unusually good.
Here is the full financing picture for a foreign buyer in Georgia.
What Georgian banks actually offer
Georgia's major banks, led by TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia, do lend to foreign citizens for property purchases. The realistic shape of those loans:
- Down payment: expect 20 to 40 percent, with non-residents pushed toward the higher end.
- Rates: meaningfully higher than Western borrowers are used to. Dollar-denominated mortgages have commonly run in the high single digits to low double digits; GEL-denominated loans carry higher nominal rates, tracking the local rate environment.
- Term: up to 10 to 15 years is common; the multi-decade mortgages of Western markets are not the norm.
- Documentation: verifiable income, bank statements, and the compliance scrutiny any non-resident should expect. Income earned in Georgia, or residency status, improves every term on this list.
The mortgage itself registers against the property at NAPR, the same public registry that records your ownership, which is exactly how you can see other people's mortgages when you run a title check on a property you are buying.
Why most foreign buyers pay differently
Three features of this market shrink the role of bank financing.
Prices are absolutely low. The typical foreign purchase here, a 50,000 to 120,000 USD apartment, sits within savings-and-sale range for many buyers who could never cash-buy in London or Berlin. Georgia is where people buy without a bank, often for the first time.
Developer payment plans replace construction loans. For new builds, developers themselves offer staged payment schedules, commonly 20 to 30 percent down with the balance spread interest-free to completion, sometimes beyond. For anyone comfortable with off-plan risk management, this is financing at zero percent from the party most motivated to close.
High yields punish expensive debt. With gross rental yields of 7 to 10 percent, borrowing at similar or higher rates neutralizes the leverage. The arithmetic that makes mortgages compelling in 3 percent rate environments simply is not present. Cash buyers here keep the whole yield, which is the point of the market.
The realistic financing menu, ranked
- Cash, from savings or a home-country asset sale. The default, and in this market usually the correct one. Watch currency transfer costs, the quiet 0.5 to 1.5 percent leak covered in our cost guide.
- Developer installments on off-plan. Interest-free leverage with construction risk attached; manage the risk and it is the best financing product in Georgia.
- Equity release at home. Borrowing against property in your home country at home-country rates, then buying in Georgia as a cash buyer, frequently beats a Georgian mortgage on every term. Your existing bank knows you; Georgian banks price the fact that they do not.
- A Georgian mortgage. Fully real, works best for buyers with Georgian income or residency, larger purchases, or those who specifically want local leverage. Talk to TBC and Bank of Georgia both; terms move and are negotiable at the margin.
If you do take the Georgian mortgage
A few local particulars. Loans are offered in USD and GEL; borrowing in a currency you do not earn adds exchange risk on every payment, so most foreign earners match the loan to their income currency. Early repayment penalties exist but are modest and regulated; check them anyway. And remember the mortgage registers publicly, so when you later sell, buyers will see it and expect the payoff handled explicitly at closing, the same courtesy you should demand when buying.
One more structural note: buying with a mortgage does not affect your eligibility to own, and a mortgaged property can still support the property-linked residence permit provided the appraised value clears the threshold.
The bottom line
Financing in Georgia inverts Western habits: the bank is the last resort, not the first call. Price the cash purchase, then the developer plan, then home-country equity, and let a Georgian mortgage compete for the job only after those three. However you fund it, the asset itself should be registry-checked before any money moves, which is where our verified listings and the full buyer guide come in.
Lending terms change with the rate environment and by borrower profile. General information as of 2026, not financial advice.