Buying real estate in Cartagena?

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How much does a house cost in Cartagena?

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SUMMARY

A house in Cartagena currently costs roughly COP 500–900 million for a solid ordinary family property, around COP 1–2 billion for a premium residential house, and COP 3–6 billion or more once the search moves into prime coastal or historic neighborhoods.

The citywide house average is a poor guide. Large colonial houses, redevelopment sites and commercial properties worth several billion pesos sit in the same datasets as ordinary family homes around COP 300–600 million, pulling the average sharply upward.

The lower-cost house market is still very real. Around COP 300–500 million can buy an actual house in neighborhoods such as Ternera, but buyers usually trade away beach access, historic-center walkability and the locations most visible to foreign buyers.

The practical center of the market is closer to COP 500 million–1 billion than the citywide average suggests. That range reaches larger local houses, some Manga properties and smaller new houses in northern gated developments.

COP 1 billion remains a strong budget, but it stops feeling generous once the brief includes a prime neighborhood, a large house and proximity to the sea. Crespo, for example, already sits well above the ordinary Cartagena market.

Manga is one of the clearest examples of why price averages need context. Ordinary family houses can still appear below COP 1 billion, while large main-road properties with redevelopment or commercial potential can jump above COP 3 billion.

Bocagrande, Getsemaní and Centro belong to a different market. Scarce land, tourism demand, commercial potential and historic architecture mean house values can reach several billion pesos even before a property looks like conventional luxury housing.

New houses in northern Cartagena often cost more per square meter than older homes elsewhere. Buyers are paying for security, infrastructure, common areas and lower renovation needs, while older housing can offer much more space for the same money.

For foreign buyers, the peso-dollar exchange rate now changes the budget almost as much as local house-price inflation. A COP 1 billion property costs roughly US$313,000 near COP 3,200 per dollar, versus about US$250,000 at COP 4,000.

The cleanest way to understand Cartagena is as several housing markets layered on top of one another: a conventional local family market, a premium residential market, and a scarce coastal-historic market. The mistake is treating prices from one layer as representative of the whole city.

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How much does a house cost in Cartagena?

Why is the average house price in Cartagena so misleading?

The average house price in Cartagena tells us surprisingly little about what most buyers will actually pay today.

FincaRaíz currently shows an average asking price well above COP 3 billion for houses across Cartagena. Taken literally, that suggests a typical house costs close to US$1 million. Once we look at the listings behind that number, the problem becomes obvious.

A current three-bedroom house in Ternera is advertised around COP 320 million. Another gated house nearby is around COP 410 million. In Manga, we find houses around COP 650–930 million, but also large commercial properties above COP 3 billion. Crespo's current house average is close to COP 1.8 billion. Getsemaní and the historic center then push prices into several billions of pesos.

All of those properties get mixed into the same citywide calculation.

Luxury colonial houses also tend to be physically large, commercially useful and extremely expensive. A handful of COP 5–10 billion properties can pull an average upward much faster than dozens of COP 300–600 million family homes pull it downward.

For that reason, we would ignore Cartagena's overall house average when setting a buying budget. Neighborhood and property type are far more useful.

Cartagena house segment Typical asking-price range Approx. USD at current exchange rates What that budget usually means
Lower-cost local market COP 300m–500m $94k–$157k Ternera and similar residential districts
Main family market COP 500m–1bn $157k–$314k Larger homes, stronger local areas, some Manga options
Premium residential COP 1bn–2bn $314k–$628k Crespo, larger Manga homes, northern projects
High-end market COP 2bn–4bn $628k–$1.26m Prime coastal and large premium homes
Historic luxury market COP 4bn+ $1.26m+ Getsemaní, Centro Histórico, hotel-like colonial properties

Can you still buy a house in Cartagena for COP 300–500 million?

Yes. Houses in Cartagena still exist in the COP 300–500 million range today, although mainly outside the neighborhoods most foreign buyers immediately recognize.

Ternera gives us some of the clearest current evidence. Recent FincaRaíz inventory includes a 74 m² three-bedroom house around COP 320 million, a 107 m² five-bedroom house around COP 380 million and a 72 m² gated home around COP 410 million.

Those are real asking prices, not subsidized-housing statistics or old transactions.

Other local neighborhoods show similar levels. Properties in El Campestre, Los Alpes and parts of the industrial-bay locality still appear in the COP 300–500 million range, often with much more space than a new apartment near the coast.

At the current peso-dollar exchange rate, COP 400 million is roughly US$125,000. That is enough to buy an actual house in Cartagena.

The trade-off is location. At this budget, buyers normally give up walkability to the historic center, immediate beach access and the tourism premium attached to Bocagrande, Getsemaní or the northern coastal developments.

So the lower end of Cartagena's housing market has not disappeared. It is simply much less visible to outsiders.

Get fresh and reliable data on the Cartagena property market

Zona Norte is sold on an avenue, a beach club and a school that are still drawings, at the price the walled city charges. Where asking prices sit furthest from what places earn and resell for.

What does COP 500 million to COP 1 billion buy in Cartagena now?

A COP 500 million to COP 1 billion budget currently buys a solid house in Cartagena and gives buyers far more choice than the city's luxury image suggests.

This range covers several different types of property.

In Ternera and similar neighborhoods, COP 500–700 million can buy a fairly large house rather than an entry-level one. In La Concepción, larger family homes have recently appeared around COP 500–900 million.

Manga starts to become realistic too. Current inventory includes a three-bedroom property around COP 650 million, a five-bedroom 149 m² house around COP 800 million and a recently listed 225 m² four-bedroom house at COP 930 million.

New construction also overlaps with this budget. Northern Cartagena projects currently advertise smaller houses from roughly COP 530 million, with larger units moving through the COP 600–900 million range.

That comparison is useful. The same COP 800 million can buy an older and substantially larger house in an established neighborhood or a smaller new property in a gated northern development.

For many family buyers, this is the real center of Cartagena's house market today.

Example Asking price Built area Approx. price per built m²
Ternera house COP 320m 74 m² COP 4.3m
Ternera gated house COP 410m 72 m² COP 5.7m
Manga house COP 800m 149 m² COP 5.4m
Manga house COP 930m 225 m² COP 4.1m
New northern house Around COP 530m Around 80 m² Around COP 6.6m

Is COP 1 billion enough for a good house in Cartagena?

Yes. COP 1 billion is still a strong house budget in Cartagena, but location starts to matter much more once buyers target the city's best-known residential neighborhoods.

In Manga, a billion pesos gives access to several conventional family homes. The recent COP 930 million, 225 m² listing is a good example of what that money can still buy.

Pie de la Popa sits around the same broad level. Current portal data places the average house asking price there a little above COP 1 billion, although individual homes vary widely according to size and condition.

Crespo is harder. FincaRaíz currently puts the average house asking price near COP 1.8 billion, and three-bedroom houses also tend to sit above the COP 1 billion mark. A buyer arriving with exactly COP 1 billion can find opportunities, but choice becomes narrower.

The northern new-build market creates another option. A billion pesos can buy a modern gated house, although usually with less space than an older property in Manga or another established neighborhood.

So COP 1 billion still buys a good Cartagena house. It stops feeling generous once the brief becomes “large house, prime neighborhood, close to the sea.”

Everything a foreign buyer should know before buying in Cartagena

The pack also covers how far below asking to go, which fees to refuse, and what a seller hopes you will not check.

How expensive is Crespo compared with ordinary Cartagena?

Crespo houses currently cost several times more than comparable family homes in lower-cost Cartagena neighborhoods.

FincaRaíz's current inventory puts the average house asking price in Crespo at roughly COP 1.8 billion, with an average built area slightly above 300 m². Large properties can move well beyond COP 3 billion.

Compare that with Ternera, where current three-bedroom houses sit around COP 320–410 million.

That means a conventional Crespo house can easily cost three or four times as much as a modest family home elsewhere in the city.

The premium is understandable. Crespo gives residents quick access to the airport, the Caribbean coast and the historic center while remaining more residential than Bocagrande. Larger lots are also increasingly valuable in a city where prime central land is limited.

Cartagena's official real-estate observatory had already found substantially higher prices in Crespo than in ordinary residential districts when it studied the coastal market. Current listings show that the gap remains firmly in place.

For a buyer who wants a house rather than an apartment, Crespo is clearly a premium neighborhood now.

What does a house cost in Manga today?

Most conventional houses in Manga currently sit somewhere between roughly COP 650 million and COP 3 billion, with size and commercial potential creating a very wide spread.

The lower end is still surprisingly accessible. Recent listings include a three-bedroom house around COP 650 million, a five-bedroom 149 m² house at COP 800 million and a four-bedroom 225 m² property at COP 930 million.

Move up in size and the numbers change quickly. A recently listed six-bedroom, 400 m² property on a main road was asking COP 3.2 billion. Its description explicitly presents the house as suitable for commercial use.

That difference is important in Manga. Some old houses are valuable partly because of what can be done with the land. A large property on a main road may appeal to developers, clinics, offices, restaurants or hospitality operators as well as families.

This is why portal averages for Manga can become absurdly high. Huge lots and redevelopment assets sit in the same dataset as ordinary gated houses.

For someone simply looking for a good family house in Manga, we would currently think in terms of roughly COP 700 million to COP 1.5 billion first, then move higher for much larger properties or better sites.

Manga buyer Useful budget What buyers are likely to find
Entry point COP 650m–900m Smaller or older family houses
Comfortable family budget COP 900m–1.5bn More space and stronger condition
Large traditional house COP 1.5bn–3bn Bigger lots and redevelopment potential
Commercial or exceptional property COP 3bn+ Large sites, main-road exposure, unusual assets

The zones and projects in Cartagena that are most overpriced

Zona Norte is sold on an avenue, a beach club and a school that are still drawings, at the price the walled city charges. Where asking prices sit furthest from what places earn and resell for.

How much does a house cost in Bocagrande?

A house in Bocagrande is currently a multi-billion-peso purchase, with roughly COP 3 billion a sensible starting reference rather than an extreme luxury number.

FincaRaíz's current house inventory produces an average asking price around COP 3.3 billion. These properties are also large, averaging roughly 370 m² of construction.

Bocagrande's broader residential market helps explain those numbers. Cartagena's official property observatory found some of the city's highest coastal prices there, with prime units comfortably above COP 10 million per square meter and exceptional properties much higher.

House supply is also scarce. Bocagrande has become overwhelmingly apartment-led, so the remaining houses sit on valuable land in one of Cartagena's most commercially and touristically intense areas.

A buyer paying COP 3 billion is therefore buying much more than the structure itself. The underlying site may be the most valuable part of the transaction.

That is why Bocagrande should be compared with other prime coastal or redevelopment locations, not with ordinary Cartagena family housing.

How much does a colonial house in Getsemaní cost now?

A realistic budget for a house in Getsemaní is currently around COP 4–6 billion, with the best colonial properties pushing well above that.

Recent FincaRaíz inventory has included an eight-bedroom property around COP 4 billion, a seven-bedroom house around COP 5.1 billion and a much larger property around COP 5.5 billion. Premium restored houses can reach COP 8 billion or more.

The portal's current average for Getsemaní houses is around COP 5.5 billion, which in this case is much closer to the visible listing market than Cartagena's misleading citywide average.

At today's exchange rate, COP 5 billion is roughly US$1.56 million.

Getsemaní prices make more sense once we look at what buyers are actually acquiring. Many of these houses have seven, eight or more bedrooms, internal patios and architecture that can support boutique-hotel, restaurant or short-term-rental use.

Tourism demand and scarcity therefore push the value far beyond what the same number of square meters would cost in a normal residential district.

For someone looking specifically for a colonial investment property, Cartagena becomes a million-dollar market very quickly.

Getsemaní example Asking price Built area Approx. USD
Large colonial house Around COP 4.0bn Around 180 m² Around $1.25m
7-bedroom property Around COP 5.1bn Around 212 m² Around $1.59m
Large investment property Around COP 5.5bn Around 540 m² Around $1.72m
Luxury historic house Around COP 8.5bn Around 436 m² Around $2.66m

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How expensive is a house in Cartagena's historic center?

Houses in Cartagena's historic center typically start in the low billions of pesos and can move deep into multi-million-dollar territory for exceptional hotel-scale properties.

Recent listings illustrate the gap. Smaller historic houses have appeared around COP 3–4 billion, while larger five-bedroom properties can move toward COP 7–8 billion.

The upper end becomes much more extreme. Portal averages are sometimes above COP 20 billion because the dataset includes enormous heritage buildings and assets effectively competing with boutique hotels.

We would not use those averages to tell a normal buyer what a Centro house costs.

A more practical entry point is around COP 3–4 billion for a smaller historic property. COP 5–10 billion opens a much broader part of the market. Large restored colonial assets can move far beyond that.

The historic center has one of Cartagena's smallest supplies of irreplaceable real estate, strict heritage constraints and constant tourism demand. Those three forces keep prices detached from the rest of the city.

Once a buyer insists on a genuine colonial house inside the walls, the affordable Cartagena housing market becomes largely irrelevant.

Is Serena del Mar cheaper than Cartagena's historic neighborhoods?

Yes. Serena del Mar is considerably cheaper than prime Getsemaní or Centro houses, although larger new homes there already cost well above COP 1 billion.

Cartagena's official property-market research found a broad range in Serena del Mar, from smaller units in the hundreds of millions of pesos to premium homes above COP 2 billion.

Current new-project listings fit that pattern. Entry-level houses in the wider northern corridor start around COP 530–620 million. Larger homes move toward COP 800 million–1.1 billion, while premium projects currently advertise houses close to COP 2 billion and above.

The price comparison with Getsemaní is striking. Around COP 2 billion can buy a large modern home in a planned northern development. In Getsemaní, the same amount may not be enough to enter the serious colonial-house market.

Buyers are choosing between two completely different products.

Serena del Mar offers newer construction, security, planned roads, green areas and modern amenities. The historic neighborhoods offer scarcity, architecture, tourism exposure and walkability that cannot simply be reproduced farther north.

For people who want a high-end house to live in rather than a historic investment asset, Cartagena's northern developments are usually much easier to enter.

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Are new houses in Cartagena actually more expensive than old ones?

Yes. New houses in Cartagena often cost much more per square meter than older houses, particularly in gated developments in the north.

Current project prices make that visible. A new house around 80 m² advertised near COP 530 million works out to roughly COP 6.6 million per built square meter. Larger northern units can move toward COP 8–10 million per square meter.

Older homes in local neighborhoods can sit dramatically lower.

A large existing house in El Campestre, for example, can show an asking price around COP 450–560 million despite having several hundred square meters of construction. Even after allowing for age, condition and imperfect listing data, the difference is substantial.

Buyers are paying for more than floor area in new developments. Security, new infrastructure, common areas, modern finishes and lower immediate renovation needs all carry a premium.

Older houses often offer much more space for the money, but some need significant work.

This makes Cartagena unusual for buyers coming from markets where “new” automatically means a larger or better home. Here, COP 800 million might buy a compact modern house in a new development or an older property two or three times its size elsewhere.

Are house prices in Cartagena still rising?

Cartagena house prices are still facing upward pressure now, although the latest evidence points to steady inflation rather than a runaway boom across every neighborhood.

DANE's latest second-quarter 2026 New Housing Price Index showed new-house prices across Colombia rising 3.68% from the previous quarter. Apartments increased 2.37%.

That follows a 3.23% quarterly increase for houses in the first quarter. Across the first half of 2026, the national new-house index therefore kept moving upward at a fairly strong pace.

Construction costs are helping keep pressure on prices. DANE's building-cost index showed construction costs in Cartagena running about 6.3% above the previous year earlier in 2026. Labor costs were rising even faster nationally.

Cartagena had already posted strong new-housing price growth before that. DANE data for late 2025 showed annual new-home price inflation in Cartagena close to 9%.

We should still separate nominal price growth from real appreciation. Colombian inflation has remained high enough that a house rising 7–9% in pesos does not automatically mean the owner gained the same amount in purchasing power.

Cartagena Cómo Vamos reached a similar conclusion when reviewing 2024. Using Camacol Bolívar data, the organization estimated that average housing prices per square meter actually fell slightly after adjusting for inflation.

So houses are getting more expensive in pesos these days, but the evidence does not support the idea that every part of Cartagena is experiencing explosive real price growth.

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Has Cartagena become a luxury housing market?

No. Cartagena has a huge luxury market, but most housing activity still happens far below Getsemaní and Bocagrande prices.

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Its review of 2024 housing sales recorded almost 8,000 transactions across estratos 2 through 6. Estratos 2 and 3 alone accounted for roughly two-thirds of those sales. Estrato 6 represented a much smaller share.

That composition looks nothing like a city where the normal home costs COP 3–5 billion.

What outsiders see online is heavily filtered. International buyers search for Bocagrande, Castillogrande, Manga, Crespo, Centro, Getsemaní and the northern coastal developments. Real-estate agencies also have a strong incentive to market expensive properties internationally because the commissions are larger.

The ordinary Cartagena market receives far less attention.

Current listings confirm the gap. Houses around COP 300–500 million remain available in local residential areas at the same time that colonial properties are asking COP 5 billion or more.

Cartagena therefore has an unusually large luxury layer sitting above a much more conventional Colombian housing market.

That distinction explains why two buyers can research “Cartagena house prices” and come away with completely different impressions of what the city costs.

How much should a foreign buyer budget for a Cartagena house in US dollars?

A foreign buyer should currently think in three broad bands: around US$125,000–300,000 for ordinary housing, US$300,000–600,000 for stronger residential options and US$1 million or more for prime coastal or historic houses.

The peso is especially important right now because the dollar has weakened sharply against it over the past year.

Current market rates are around COP 3,190–3,200 per US dollar. A year earlier, the dollar had traded above COP 4,000 at points.

That currency move changes the cost dramatically for someone earning or holding dollars.

COP 1 billion is currently worth roughly US$313,000. At COP 4,000 to the dollar, the same peso price would have been only US$250,000.

A Cartagena house can therefore stay completely unchanged in peso terms and still become roughly US$60,000 more expensive for an American buyer.

For foreign buyers, exchange-rate risk is currently almost as important as local house-price inflation.

Cartagena house price Approx. USD now What that budget generally reaches
COP 300m $94k Lower-cost local house
COP 400m $125k Modest family home
COP 600m $188k Better local or entry new-build options
COP 800m $250k Strong mid-market budget
COP 1bn $313k Good family house, with location trade-offs
COP 1.5bn $469k Premium residential market
COP 2bn $625k High-end house
COP 3bn $938k Prime coastal territory
COP 5bn $1.56m Getsemaní and colonial luxury territory

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What each zone costs, what it earns on a nightly rental, how long it sits before it sells. Plus the things nobody writes down: how far below asking to go, which fees to refuse, and what a seller hopes you will not check.

Does a COP 1 billion house really cost only COP 1 billion?

No. A COP 1 billion house in Cartagena will cost more than COP 1 billion once taxes, registration, legal work and any renovation are included.

Colombian purchases go through a public deed and property registration.

The government's investment-procedures portal states that registration tax generally runs around 0.5–1% of the transaction value, while registration rights are typically around 0.6–0.9%. Notarial charges also apply, and official notarial tariffs were updated again for 2026.

Buyers may also pay for legal due diligence, title certificates, valuations and mortgage-related costs.

For older Cartagena houses, those transaction fees are rarely the biggest risk.

Renovation can become much more expensive, particularly in Manga, Getsemaní and the historic center. Roofs, humidity, plumbing, electrical systems and structural repairs can quickly turn a superficially cheap old property into a major project.

Heritage restrictions make that even more important in colonial Cartagena, where owners cannot necessarily renovate a protected property however they want.

We would therefore keep a separate cash reserve above the advertised purchase price rather than treating the listing figure as the final budget.

How much does a house in Cartagena really cost today?

For most buyers, a realistic Cartagena house budget today is roughly COP 400 million to COP 1.5 billion; prime coastal and historic houses usually begin much higher, often around COP 2–4 billion and climbing from there.

The strongest evidence comes from the spread in current inventory.

Around COP 300–500 million, houses are still available in Ternera and other local neighborhoods. COP 500 million–1 billion covers a large part of the practical family market and reaches some Manga properties plus smaller new houses in the north.

Between COP 1 billion and COP 2 billion, buyers enter stronger residential areas such as Crespo, larger Manga homes and better northern developments.

Once budgets move above COP 3 billion, Cartagena starts looking much more like the international market people see in property advertisements. Bocagrande houses, premium sites and historic properties become relevant.

Getsemaní currently sits closer to COP 4–6 billion for serious colonial houses, while exceptional properties inside the historic center can go far beyond that.

So if someone asks us how much a house costs in Cartagena, we would use COP 500–900 million as the best shorthand for a solid ordinary house, around COP 1–2 billion for a genuinely premium residential property, and COP 3–6 billion or more for the coastal and historic Cartagena that dominates international real-estate marketing.

One city contains all three price levels at the same time. That is the key to understanding Cartagena's housing market.

Everything a foreign buyer should know before buying in Cartagena

The pack also covers how far below asking to go, which fees to refuse, and what a seller hopes you will not check.

OUR METHODOLOGY

We treated “How much does a house cost in Cartagena?” as a market-structure question rather than an average-price lookup. Cartagena contains ordinary family housing, premium residential property, redevelopment sites and scarce historic houses in the same city, so one headline average can easily give the wrong impression.

Current listing inventory was the main source for asking-price evidence. We used FincaRaíz citywide and neighborhood pages to compare repeated price ranges in Ternera, La Concepción, Manga, Pie de la Popa, Crespo, Bocagrande, Getsemaní, Centro Histórico and Serena del Mar rather than letting a few exceptional listings define the market.

We kept each type of evidence in its proper role. Listings show what sellers are currently asking; DANE's New Housing Price Index and construction-cost data show the direction of new-home prices and building costs; Cartagena Cómo Vamos and Camacol Bolívar data help show where actual housing activity is concentrated and whether nominal price growth survives after inflation.

We also separated residential value from commercial or redevelopment potential. That distinction matters especially in Manga, Bocagrande, Getsemaní and Centro, where large houses may be priced partly for the land, tourism use, hospitality potential or redevelopment options rather than simply for the amount of residential floor space.

Dollar conversions were handled separately using Banco de la República exchange-rate data. That lets us show how a house can stay unchanged in pesos while becoming materially more or less expensive for a buyer holding US dollars.

Purchase costs and renovation constraints were checked against official sources rather than portal estimates. We used Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro material for 2026 notarial and registration tariffs, and Ministry of Cultures material on Cartagena's historic-center PEMP for heritage restrictions that can affect older colonial properties.

The final budget bands are therefore built from repeated current listing patterns and then checked against broader official market data. We give more weight to price ranges that appear consistently across multiple listings and less weight to extreme properties that distort neighborhood or citywide averages.

Key sources include: FincaRaíz's Cartagena house inventory, FincaRaíz's Manga inventory, FincaRaíz's Crespo inventory, FincaRaíz's Bocagrande inventory, FincaRaíz's Getsemaní inventory, DANE's Q1 2026 New Housing Price Index, DANE's New Housing Price Index releases, DANE's ICOCED construction-cost data, Cartagena Cómo Vamos' 2024 Quality of Life Report, Banco de la República's TRM data, Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro on 2026 notarial tariffs, Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro on 2026 registration tariffs, and the Ministry of Cultures on Cartagena's historic-center PEMP.

The zones and projects in Cartagena that are most overpriced

Zona Norte is sold on an avenue, a beach club and a school that are still drawings, at the price the walled city charges. Where asking prices sit furthest from what places earn and resell for.