Rental yield on a Batumi apartment: real numbers

Short-term letting in Batumi is essentially a seasonal business. From June to September, a studio near the sea rents for $60–120 per night depending on distance to the beach and finish quality; a one-bedroom goes for $80–160. In the peak weeks of July–August, rates can climb another 20–30%, but competition is fierce: in the New Boulevard area alone, thousands of units are listed on Booking and Airbnb at once.

Long-term rentals offer stability without the seasonal swings. A studio rents for $250–400 per month, a one-bedroom for $350–550, depending on district and furnishing. Tenants are mostly local families, relocators, and staff of companies with a permanent presence in Batumi. The rate barely changes over the year, but it also caps how much you can earn.

In practice, most owners who genuinely want to maximise income use a hybrid model: short-term letting in summer, and long-term or discounted short-term rental through a management company from October to May.

Batumi's resort season runs roughly from mid-June to the end of September — 3.5 to 4 months, during which occupancy with reasonable management and pricing holds at 70–90%. In May and October occupancy drops to 30–40%, and from November to March short-term units often sit empty for weeks, saved only by the New Year holidays (late December–early January), when rates can briefly approach summer levels.

Realistic average annual occupancy for short-term rentals without a management company is 35–45%. With professional management and active listing across several platforms, occupancy can be pushed to 50–55% a year, but that requires constant work on pricing, photos and reviews.

A management company for short-term letting takes 20–30% of each booking — the largest expense item, but hard to avoid if you need check-ins, cleaning between guests, and multilingual communication handled properly. For long-term rentals, the management fee is usually a one-off — 50–100% of one month's rent when finding a tenant — followed by a flat $20–40 per month for payment monitoring.

Utility bills in seafront complexes run $40–90 a month at peak season (air conditioning, water), while servicing a complex with a pool and security costs $0.3–0.7 per m² per month regardless of whether the unit is occupied. Short-term letting adds cleaning ($10–15 per stay), linen changes and minor furniture repairs — together about 5–8% of annual turnover.

Rental income tax for an individual is 5% of the amount received when renting directly to a tenant. Registering as an individual entrepreneur under the simplified regime can bring the rate down to 1% of turnover under certain income conditions — more advantageous for active, high-turnover short-term letting. Furniture and appliance depreciation should be budgeted separately: 3–5% of furnishing value per year for replacing mattresses, appliances and textiles.

A 28 m² studio near New Boulevard priced at $45,000, let short-term: average nightly rate $55, annual occupancy 40% (146 nights), gross income around $8,000 a year. After the management company's fee (25%), utilities and complex maintenance (about $900 a year), cleaning and depreciation (about $500), net income is roughly $4,600 a year — about 10.2% yield before tax and 9.7% after paying the 5% tax.

The same studio let long-term at $300 a month gives gross income of $3,600 a year. After utilities and maintenance (about $900 a year, less if partly covered by the tenant) and the 5% tax, net income is about $2,500–2,900, i.e. 5.5–6.4% a year. The gap favours short-term letting, but it demands either active management or the management company's commission.

A 45 m² one-bedroom priced at $75,000 in a residential district (Angisa, Khimshiashvili), let long-term at $400 a month with low maintenance costs (no pool, no security), yields 5.5–6% net — steady, with no seasonal dips and no short-term management overhead.

For short-term letting, New Boulevard and the surrounding blocks within a 5–10 minute walk of the beach are the clear leader: tourists specifically search for this location, and occupancy here runs 15–20 percentage points above the city average. The second most popular option is the promenade near Pirveli Maisi, closer to the centre, with the same logic of walkable access to the sea and restaurants.

For long-term rentals, residential districts with developed infrastructure work better — Khimshiashvili, Angisa, the area around Piazza and Chavchavadze, home to local families and company staff. Competition among landlords is lower here, demand is stable year-round, and furniture wears out less than with a stream of short-term tourists.