Buy an apartment or keep renting? The 2026 numbers for Baku
An apartment in Baku currently costs roughly as much as 19 to 25 years of rent. According to Prayk's market index (27 September 2026), the median asking price of a two-room apartment is 174,900 AZN and the monthly rent is 750 AZN, so a year of rent equals only 5.1% of the price. Below you will find the calculation by number of rooms and by district, the hidden costs of buying, and a way to make the decision for your own situation.
Short answer: as of 27 September 2026, a one-room apartment in Baku costs 22.3 years of rent, a two-room 19.4 years, a three-room 21.3 years and a four-room 24.7 years. By district the figure is 18–20 years in Khirdalan and Absheron district and more than 25 years in central Baku. If you plan to stay in one place for a long time and your money does not earn more elsewhere than rent would, buying makes sense; if you value flexibility, can put the money to work or may move, renting is the better deal.
How many years of rent is an apartment in Baku worth?
The simplest measure is the price-to-rent ratio: divide the sale price by the annual rent. The result tells you after how many years of rent you would have paid the price of the same apartment. The inverse, annual rent divided by price, is the gross yield. The table shows medians calculated from Prayk's listing observations over the last 90 days. The median is the price in the middle when listings are sorted by price; the range in brackets covers the middle 50%.
| Rooms | Median sale price, AZN | Median rent, AZN/month | Years of rent | Gross yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 room | 126,000 (105,000–155,000) | 470 (350–600) | 22.3 | 4.5% |
| 2 rooms | 174,900 (140,000–225,000) | 750 (600–950) | 19.4 | 5.1% |
| 3 rooms | 255,000 (195,000–335,000) | 1,000 (797–1,400) | 21.3 | 4.7% |
| 4 rooms | 385,000 (255,000–550,000) | 1,300 (900–1,800) | 24.7 | 4.1% |
| All apartments | 218,000 (160,000–292,000) | 800 (600–1,100) | 22.7 | 4.4% |
Four-room apartments favour tenants the most: the price of a large apartment grows faster than its rent. Two-room apartments have the lowest ratio, so buying looks relatively better there. Over the last 30 days the median sale price of two- and three-room apartments fell by 1.2–1.9%, while the median rent for the same room counts did not change.
What does the picture look like by district?
For districts we used the index from Prayk's investment page. In the last column the same median sale price is divided by the district rent median we measured on 22 September by title search (see Baku rent by district); the gap between the two measurements shows how sensitive the result is.
| District / city | Median sale price, AZN | AZN/m² | Median rent (index), AZN | Years (index) | Years (22 September rent) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Narimanov | 287,000 | 3,301 | 550 | 43.5 | 26.6 |
| Nasimi | 180,000 | 3,071 | 500 | 30.3 | 16.7 |
| Yasamal | 197,000 | 2,920 | 500 | 33.3 | 20.9 |
| Sabail | 200,000 | 2,800 | 500 | 33.3 | 18.5 |
| Nizami | 182,000 | 2,760 | 400 | 38.5 | 20.2 |
| Khatai | 175,000 | 2,500 | 600 | 24.4 | 18.2 |
| Binagadi | 155,000 | 2,363 | 450 | 28.6 | 18.5 |
| Sabunchu | 161,000 | 2,417 | 330 | 40.0 | 24.4 |
| Surakhani | 132,000 | 1,993 | 450 | 24.4 | 22.0 |
| Khirdalan | 108,500 | 1,756 | 450 | 20.0 | — |
| Absheron district | 85,000 | 1,440 | 400 | 17.9 | — |
| Sumgayit | 114,000 | 1,764 | 360 | 26.3 | — |
| Ganja | 87,500 | 1,504 | 330 | 22.2 | — |
Keep two things in mind. First, district rent baskets are small (63 observations in Sabail, 42 in Surakhani) and in central districts they come out well below the overall Baku rent median of 800 AZN; the two-room rent basket in Narimanov, for example, contains many listings with the same price. So the "Years (index)" column may look longer than reality in the centre. Second, both measurements point the same way: in Khirdalan, Absheron and Khatai apartments are cheap relative to rent, while in Narimanov and Sabunchu they are expensive.
When is buying better, and when is renting?
A single number does not make the decision; your life plans matter too. The table sums up typical situations:
| Situation | Renting wins | Buying wins |
|---|---|---|
| How long you will stay at one address | Work, school or family may change within a few years | You plan to live in the same district for many years |
| What your money could earn elsewhere | A deposit, business or other investment returns more than 5% a year | The alternative return is below the rental yield (4–5%) |
| Starting capital | You would have to borrow most of the price through a mortgage | Most or all of the price is your own money |
| Price-to-rent ratio | Over 25 years (four-room apartments, central districts) | Under 20 years (two-room apartments, Khirdalan, Absheron) |
| Upkeep | You want the owner to deal with repairs and appliances | You want to renovate to your own taste |
The hidden advantage of renting is flexibility: if your job changes, you can move to another district closer to the metro within a month. The hidden advantage of buying is protection from rising rents: over the last 30 days the median rent of one-room apartments rose by 17.5%.
What are the hidden costs of buying?
The price-to-rent ratio only counts the sale price. A real purchase costs more:
- Paperwork. A notarised sale contract and registration of ownership in the state real estate register. According to the State Service for Property Issues, rights are registered within 10 working days of the application.
- Renovation and furniture. Some new-build apartments are sold without finishing, and that cost comes on top of the price. More: new build or older building.
- Mortgage interest. Interest paid on a loan is also a kind of "rent": count it as a monthly cost, not as part of the price, and compare it with renting.
- Insurance, property tax and utilities. When you rent, the owner carries part of these; as an owner you pay them all. On insurance: compulsory home insurance.
- Tied-up capital. Money put into an apartment does not earn anything elsewhere. This is the most commonly forgotten cost.
How do you run the numbers for your own apartment?
- Check the market value of the apartment (or a similar one) with the "What's my home worth?" tool: a point on the map, rooms, area, building type and title deed.
- Look at rental listings in the same district with the same number of rooms in the Apartments section and note the typical monthly rent.
- Divide the price by the annual rent. A result below 20 points towards buying, above 25 towards renting.
- Divide the annual rent by the price and compare the percentage with what your money could earn elsewhere.
- Add the extra costs of buying (paperwork, renovation, mortgage interest) to the price or to the monthly cost and repeat the calculation.
- Before buying a specific apartment, check its price history and market comparison with the "Check a listing" report on the listing page.
A short decision checklist
- Do I roughly know how many years I will live at this address?
- After the down payment, will I still have a reserve for 3–6 months of expenses?
- Does the apartment have a title deed registered to the seller? (risks of an apartment without a deed)
- How much higher is the monthly mortgage payment than the rent for the same apartment?
- If I keep renting, where will I keep the money saved for a purchase?
Frequently asked questions
Is buying an apartment in Baku better than renting?
As of 27 September 2026, the median apartment price in Baku (218,000 AZN) equals 22.7 years of median rent (800 AZN a month). If you will stay in one place for a long time and your money does not earn more than 4–5% a year elsewhere, buying makes sense; otherwise renting is more flexible and often cheaper.
How many years of rent does it take to pay for an apartment?
In Baku it is 19.4 years for a two-room apartment, 22.3 years for a one-room, 21.3 years for a three-room and 24.7 years for a four-room (Prayk index, 27 September 2026). This is a gross figure before costs; vacancies, tax and repairs make the period longer.
In which district is buying cheapest relative to renting?
According to the index, an apartment in Absheron district costs 17.9 years of rent and in Khirdalan 20 years. Within Baku, Khatai has a lower ratio (24.4 years by the index, 18.2 years using 22 September rents) than the central districts.
Is buying with a mortgage cheaper than renting?
It depends on the interest rate, down payment and term. Compare the bank's payment schedule with the rent for the same apartment: the part of the payment above the rent is not all "savings" into your property, since part of it is interest. Check the exact terms with the bank.
Should I wait in case prices fall?
Over the last 30 days the median asking price of two- and three-room apartments in Baku fell by 1.2–1.9%, and of one-room apartments by 6.7%. These are short-term asking prices, not a forecast. You can follow the figures on the price pages.
Sources and methodology
The figures come from Prayk's open market API on 27 September 2026: market/districts (district ranking) and market/districts/baki (breakdown by rooms). The index is based on apartment listing observations over the last 90 days (188,563 observations across all segments); for each basket we calculate the median and the 25th–75th percentiles, and outliers are filtered with the 1.5 IQR rule. The "Baku" row covers Baku listings without a stated district (46,480 sale and 20,920 rent observations), which is the bulk of the market. "Years of rent" = median sale price ÷ (median rent × 12); gross yield is the inverse. These are asking prices, not transaction prices. We do not publish a median for baskets with fewer than 15 observations (for example, Shirvan's rent basket has 14). The district rent medians in the last column were measured on 22 September 2026 by title search. Legal information: State Service for Property Issues — questions and answers, Law on the State Register of Real Estate. This article is general information, not financial advice; calculate your own situation before deciding.