Cost of renting in Tbilisi: what moves the price

The two markets

There is a local rental market and a market aimed at new arrivals, and the same flat can appear in both at very different prices. Listings in English, on international platforms, priced in dollars, sit in the second. Nothing is wrong with paying that premium for speed, but it is worth knowing you are paying it.

What else shifts the cost of renting in Tbilisi

• District: Vake and Vera carry a premium. Saburtalo and the areas further out are cheaper for the same square metres.
• Furnishing: Unfurnished is substantially cheaper and substantially less common in the foreigner-facing market.
• Term: Monthly and short lets cost far more than a year's lease, and a year's lease is what a residence permit application wants to see.
• Season: Demand is lumpy, and the quiet months are negotiable in a way summer is not.

The part that affects your permit

If the lease is going to support an address for a residence permit, it has to be a real, documented lease with a landlord willing to be named. A cash arrangement with no paperwork is cheaper and useless for that purpose. Sort this out before you sign, because renegotiating a landlord into paperwork afterwards rarely goes well.

One more line in the budget

Utilities are usually separate and heating in winter is the item people underestimate. Ask what the January bill was, not the average.