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Rental prices in Georgia and Armenia rose 20–30% year-on-year over the summer as Russians fearing a new wave of mobilisation for Russia’s war in Ukraine sought accommodation in neighbouring countries.
Georgia remains the most accessible destination: Russian citizens can stay for up to 360 days without a visa and reset the clock with a brief visit to a neighbouring country. Tens of thousands now live there.
In Tbilisi, monthly rents for standard housing start at €450, rising to €2,700 or more for larger flats or upmarket apartments. The average nominal monthly wage in Georgia stands at around 2,165 lari (€750), according to the National Statistics Office.
After a summer peak, rents in Georgia have fallen and broadly stabilised. The sharpest increases came in 2022–2023, when rents jumped up to 70% following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russians accounted for more than 55% of all property transactions involving foreign buyers in 2023, but their share has fallen by a third since.
In 2026, Georgians made up 76% of transactions in Tbilisi’s primary housing market, according to investment bank Galt & Taggart, with Israeli buyers at 11% and Russians at 3%. Demand is more diversified in the Black Sea city of Batumi.
Russians driving up Armenia’s rental market
Demand is most acute in Armenia, where Russians — and Armenians who had been living in Russia and are seeking to avoid mobilisation — are concentrating mainly in Yerevan.
Monthly rent for a two-room flat in the capital currently runs to €850. Russian citizens can enter without a visa and stay for up to 180 days per year.
According to Armenia’s Cadastre Committee, average prices for flats in Yerevan apartment blocks rose 2.9% in August from July and 23.5% year on year. Russian nationals account for around 72% of all property transactions carried out by foreign nationals in Armenia.
A 10% tax, now required when registering lease contracts with the Cadastre, is typically paid by tenants.
In August, foreign citizens took part in 506 purchase and sale transactions nationwide, representing 7.6% of all deals, with 70.2% of those purchases — 177 properties — made in Yerevan.
The average nominal monthly wage in Armenia is 320,763 dram (€790), with substantially higher pay in sectors such as IT, finance and mining.
Next stop Belarus
Belarus has drawn Russians since Moscow’s all-out war began, first as a transit point and later as a place to stay.
After partial mobilisation was announced in September 2022, demand for short and medium-term rentals in Minsk and border cities such as Brest and Gomel surged sharply.
With European borders closed to Russians and sanctions tightening, Belarus has since attracted longer-term residents and property buyers.
Russians can apply for a temporary residence permit, with a rental contract serving as proof of accommodation and while some websites are blocked Belarus has not gone as far as Russia in restricting the internet.
Russians accounted for about 10% of property deals in Minsk in March, according to National Cadastral Agency data, compared with around 2% in 2022.
Demand among Russians for residential property in Minsk has risen over 10% so far in 2026, and the city’s housing price per square metre has increased 25.6% since January.
The two largest waves of emigration from Russia since the full-scale invasion came in 2022: first in February and March, then in September, when President Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilisation.