The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) reports, that in January 2025, Georgian banks issued mortgage loans totaling 246 million GEL, which was only 4 million GEL or 2% more compared to the previous year. Regarding the number of contracts, the number of mortgage loans issued in January was only 3 thousand, while for comparison, the number of mortgage loans issued in January 2024 was 3.3 thousand.
The National Bank of Georgia has eased mortgage lending regulations to stimulate the real estate market. For mortgage loans, it becomes possible for the initial down payment to be 10% of the apartment value and 90% as credit, instead of the previous rule which stipulated that the consumer would put down 15% for purchasing an apartment while receiving 85% of the apartment value from the bank. According to the National Bank, this measure will only be temporary, though it is currently unknown how long it will last.
According to David Utiashvili, head of the Financial Stability Department of the National Bank, in January 2025, the mortgage lending rate fell below 10% annually, in response to which the National Bank decided to ease regulations. As of David Utiashvili, this decision will encourage mortgage lending.
"Mortgage lending growth was relatively weak and less than 10% annually in January. We also assessed that in response to GDP growth normalization in the real estate market, the Financial Stability Committee made a decision to increase one of our instruments, which is the loan collateral ratio, from 85% to 90%. This means that when taking out a loan, the consumer will need to put down 10% of the apartment value themselves and borrow 90%, rather than it being 15% down payment and 85% bank loan. We think this will support sustainable activity in the real estate market and increase loan accessibility for the population," - notes Utiashvili.
With another change, purchasing apartments also becomes easier for emigrants, as the minimum down payment for mortgages issued with verified foreign income is reduced from 30% to 20%.
According to National Bank statistics, in January 2025, Georgian banks issued mortgage loans totaling 246 million GEL, which is only 4 million GEL or 2% more compared to the previous year. Regarding the number of contracts, the number of mortgages issued in January was only 3 thousand, compared to 3.3 thousand mortgage loans issued in January 2024. According to the NBG, as of January 2025, the mortgage loan rate in GEL is 11.79%, which has decreased by 0.43 percentage points year-over-year.
According to Colliers Georgia, a total of 2,892 transactions were recorded in Tbilisi in January 2025, which was a 7.5% decrease year-over-year. However, the value of realized real estate was 208 million USD, which was a 2.9% increase year-over-year, which in turn is related to the increase in real estate prices.
