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 you very little about what most buyers actually pay.

FincaRaíz lists 936 houses for sale across Cartagena at an average asking price of about COP 3.16 billion, roughly $990,000. Taken literally, a typical house would cost close to $1 million. Look at the listings behind that number and the problem is obvious.

In Ternera, the 14 houses listed average about COP 685 million, and some three-bedroom homes in La Princesa ask COP 210–330 million. In Manga, family houses ask around COP 800–950 million, next to large commercial properties at COP 3–5 billion. Crespo's 43 houses average about COP 1.8 billion. Getsemaní's 23 average close to COP 5.5 billion.

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

Luxury colonial houses are also large, commercially useful and very expensive. A handful of COP 5–12 billion properties pulls an average up much faster than dozens of COP 300–600 million family homes pull it down.

A median is a better anchor. TuLugar puts the median house listed in Cartagena at about $380,000 (COP 1.2 billion) and the median three-bedroom house at $238,000 (about COP 760 million) on 22 October 2026. Even that leans toward the areas where sellers advertise online.

So we would ignore Cartagena's overall house average when setting a budget. Neighborhood and property type tell you far more.

Cartagena house segment	Typical asking-price range	Approx. USD (about COP 3,190 per $)	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–$313k	Larger homes, stronger local areas, some Manga options
Premium residential	COP 1bn–2bn	$313k–$627k	Crespo, larger Manga homes, northern projects
High-end market	COP 2bn–4bn	$627k–$1.25m	Prime coastal and large premium homes
Historic luxury market	COP 4bn+	$1.25m+	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 sell in the COP 300–500 million range, and a few for less, but mainly outside the neighborhoods most foreign buyers recognize.

Ternera gives the clearest evidence. FincaRaíz lists 14 houses there in October 2026. In the La Princesa development, three- and four-bedroom houses ask between about COP 210 million (63 m²) and COP 330 million (126 m²), and a 74 m² three-bedroom house in Providencia asks COP 320 million.

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

Other local neighborhoods, such as El Campestre and Los Alpes, show similar levels, often with much more space than a new apartment near the coast.

At about COP 3,190 per dollar, COP 400 million is roughly $125,000. That buys an actual house in Cartagena.

The trade-off is location. At this budget you give up walking to the historic center, the beach and the tourist premium of Bocagrande, Getsemaní or the northern coast.

So the cheap end of Cartagena's housing market has not disappeared. Outsiders just don't see it.

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

A COP 500 million to COP 1 billion budget ($157,000–$313,000) buys a solid house in Cartagena and gives you far more choice than the city's luxury image suggests.

This range covers several types of property.

In Ternera, COP 500–700 million buys a large house rather than an entry-level one: a 300 m² three-bedroom house asks COP 520 million and a 420 m² four-bedroom house COP 680 million. In La Concepción, larger family homes have appeared around COP 500–900 million in 2026.

Manga becomes realistic too: current listings there start at about COP 800 million.

New construction overlaps with this budget. In Zona Norte, a three-bedroom 85 m² house built in 2025 is listed from about COP 500 million, and larger units in northern projects run through COP 600–900 million.

The same COP 800 million can buy an older, much larger house in an established neighborhood or a smaller new one in a gated northern development.

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

Example	Asking price	Built area	Approx. price per built m²
La Princesa (Ternera) house	COP 210m	63 m²	COP 3.3m
Providencia house	COP 320m	74 m²	COP 4.3m
Ternera house	COP 520m	300 m²	COP 1.7m
Manga house	COP 800m	149 m²	COP 5.4m
Manga house	COP 950m	303 m²	COP 3.1m
New Zona Norte house (built 2025)	From COP 500m	85 m²	About COP 5.9m

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

Yes. COP 1 billion (about $313,000) is still a strong house budget in Cartagena, but location starts to matter much more once you target the best-known residential neighborhoods.

In Manga, a billion pesos opens several conventional family homes. The 303 m² four-bedroom house listed at COP 950 million shows what that money can still buy.

Pie de la Popa sits at about the same level: a four-bedroom 280 m² house there is listed at COP 1 billion, although homes vary a lot with size and condition.

Crespo is harder. Its 43 listed houses average about COP 1.8 billion, and even a 150 m² four-bedroom house asks COP 1.6 billion. With exactly COP 1 billion, your choice there is thin.

The northern new-build market is another option. A billion pesos buys a modern gated house, usually with less space than an older house 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.”

How expensive is Crespo compared with ordinary Cartagena?

Crespo houses cost several times more than family homes in Cartagena's cheaper neighborhoods.

FincaRaíz's 43 Crespo houses average about COP 1.8 billion ($564,000), with an average built area of about 312 m². Most listings sit between COP 1.5 and 2.8 billion.

Compare that with Ternera, where three-bedroom houses in La Princesa ask COP 210–330 million.

So an ordinary Crespo house costs roughly five to eight times a modest family home elsewhere in the city.

The premium has reasons. Crespo is close to the airport, the sea and the historic center while staying more residential than Bocagrande, and large lots are scarce. The flip side is aircraft noise near the flight path. In September 2026 the national infrastructure agency (ANI) handed over Crespo's new linear park and coastal protection works, and the Transport Ministry demanded faster progress on the airport expansion.

Cartagena's official real-estate observatory had already found much higher prices in Crespo than in ordinary residential districts. Current listings show the gap is still there.

If you want a house rather than an apartment, Crespo is clearly a premium neighborhood.

What does a house cost in Manga today?

Most ordinary houses in Manga ask between roughly COP 800 million and COP 3 billion, with size and commercial potential creating a very wide spread.

The lower end is still accessible. Current listings include a five-bedroom 149 m² house at COP 800 million, a four-bedroom 152 m² house at COP 850 million and a four-bedroom 303 m² house at COP 950 million.

Move up in size and the numbers change fast. A 500 m² three-bedroom property asks COP 3 billion, and a 700 m² twelve-bedroom building COP 5 billion.

That matters in Manga. Some old houses are worth a lot because of what can be done with the land. A large property on a main road appeals to developers, clinics, offices, restaurants or hotels as much as to families.

This is why portal averages for Manga become absurd: FincaRaíz shows an average of about COP 8.9 billion for its 135 Manga houses, nowhere near what the visible listings ask.

For a good family house in Manga, think in terms of roughly COP 800 million to COP 1.5 billion first, then go higher for much larger properties or better sites.

Manga buyer	Useful budget	What you are likely to find
Entry point	COP 800m–1bn	Smaller or older family houses
Comfortable family budget	COP 1bn–1.5bn	More space and better 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

How much does a house cost in Bocagrande?

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

FincaRaíz shows 21 houses in Bocagrande with an average asking price of about COP 3.3 billion ($1.03 million) and roughly 370 m² built. The larger ones ask COP 4.5 to 12.5 billion.

Apartments explain the land value: their median asking price in Bocagrande is about COP 9.9 million per m² (Aptologia, 22 October 2026), and prime units go much higher.

Houses are also scarce. Bocagrande is now almost all apartments, so the remaining houses sit on valuable land in one of Cartagena's busiest tourist and commercial areas.

A buyer paying COP 3 billion is buying much more than the building. The site may be the most valuable part of the deal.

Bocagrande also floods when heavy rain meets high tide. The city handed over the rebuilt Playa 2 on 6 September 2026 and opened the first section of the COP 168 billion “4 en 1” drainage works for Bocagrande and Castillogrande on 14 October 2026. Ask how the street behaved in the last big storm before you sign.

So compare Bocagrande with other prime coastal or redevelopment sites, 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 around COP 4–6 billion, with the best colonial properties well above that.

FincaRaíz lists 23 houses there. Current asks include a four-bedroom 188 m² house at COP 3.9 billion, a three-bedroom 281 m² house at about COP 4.4 billion, a seven-bedroom 478 m² house at about COP 8 billion and a 436 m² house at COP 8.5 billion. The biggest go above COP 10 billion.

The portal's average for Getsemaní houses is about COP 5.5 billion, which here is much closer to the visible listings than Cartagena's misleading citywide average.

At about COP 3,190 per dollar, COP 5 billion is roughly $1.57 million.

Getsemaní prices make more sense once you see what is being bought. Many of these houses have several bedrooms, inner patios and architecture that can work as a boutique hotel, restaurant or short-term rental.

Tourist demand and scarcity push values far beyond what the same floor area costs in a normal residential district: most of the listings above work out at COP 15–21 million per built m².

If you want a colonial investment property, Cartagena becomes a million-dollar market very quickly.

Getsemaní example	Asking price	Built area	Approx. USD
4-bedroom house	COP 3.9bn	188 m²	$1.22m
3-bedroom house	About COP 4.4bn	281 m²	$1.37m
7-bedroom house	About COP 8.0bn	478 m²	$2.50m
Luxury historic house	COP 8.5bn	436 m²	$2.66m

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 go deep into multi-million-dollar territory for hotel-scale properties. Even apartments inside the walls ask a median of about COP 18.5 million per m² (Aptologia, 22 October 2026).

Listings in 2026 show 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 listings fit that pattern. Entry-level new houses in the wider northern corridor start around COP 500 million. Larger homes move toward COP 800 million–1.1 billion, while gated condominiums such as Barcelona de Indias ask COP 2.9–3.3 billion for 340–385 m² houses. Apartments in Serena del Mar ask a median of about COP 8.2 million per m² (Aptologia, 22 October 2026).

The comparison with Getsemaní is striking. Around COP 2 billion buys a large modern home in a planned northern development. In Getsemaní, where most houses ask COP 4 billion or more, it barely gets you in the door.

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.

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 listings make that visible. A new 85 m² three-bedroom house in Zona Norte listed from about COP 500 million works out to roughly COP 5.9 million per built m². Premium northern houses run from about COP 8.5 million per m² in Barcelona de Indias to more than COP 15 million in the Santorini project.

Older homes in local neighborhoods can sit dramatically lower.

A 346 m² three-bedroom house in Alto Bosque, for example, is listed at COP 450 million, about COP 1.3 million per m². Even after allowing for age, condition and imperfect listing data, the gap is big.

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.

What price per m² should you aim for when buying a house in Cartagena?

Across Cartagena, the median house for sale asks about $1,538 per built m² (about COP 4.9 million), against $2,376 for apartments (TuLugar, 22 October 2026). Houses are about 35% cheaper per m², partly because many are older, bigger and farther from the sea.

By size, three-bedroom houses have a median price of $238,000 (about $1,561 per m²), four-bedroom houses $380,000 and five-bedroom-plus houses $507,000, out of about 940 house listings.

The table below shows the per-m² range of the houses we looked at in each area, and the level we would aim for. If a seller asks well above it, find out what you are paying for (land, commercial use, a sea view) and ask for recent sales on the same street.

Area	Current house listings, per built m²	Our rough target
Ternera and local areas	COP 1.6m–4.3m	Under COP 4m for an older house
Manga	COP 2.8m–6.0m	COP 3m–5.5m for a family house
Crespo	COP 3.7m–10.7m (average about 5.8m)	Around COP 6m; more needs a reason
Zona Norte new builds	COP 5.9m–15.4m	COP 6m–9m for a standard gated house
Getsemaní	COP 15.6m–20.7m	Judge each house on its own comparables

Are house prices in Cartagena still rising?

Yes, but more slowly in Cartagena than in the rest of the country.

DANE's new-housing price index shows new-home prices in Cartagena up 6.28% in the year to the second quarter of 2026, down from 10.56% in the first quarter. Nationally the index rose 8.80%, with new houses up 6.67% and new apartments up 8.88%.

Costs keep pushing developers' prices up. The minimum wage rose 23% in 2026, which feeds straight into building labor.

Separate peso growth from real gains. Colombian inflation was 6.29% in September 2026 (DANE), so a house rising 6–7% in pesos barely gains anything in real terms.

Cartagena Cómo Vamos reached a similar conclusion for 2024. Using Camacol Bolívar data, it estimated that average housing prices per m² fell slightly after inflation.

So houses keep getting more expensive in pesos, but nothing points to an explosive real boom across Cartagena.

Is 2026 a good year to negotiate on a Cartagena house?

Sellers are in a weaker spot than a year ago. In Bolívar, sales of new homes above the social-housing cap (non-VIS) fell 28.8% in the first half of 2026 to 1,513 units, while VIS sales rose 26.6% (Camacol data via El Universal, 29 July 2026). Nationally, new-home sales were down 11.9% from January to September (Camacol).

Credit is expensive. Banco de la República raised its policy rate to 12.25% on 30 September 2026, and the average peso mortgage rate was 15.02% a year in September. Few local buyers can finance a COP 1–2 billion house at that cost, so upper-mid houses depend mostly on cash buyers.

What to do: offer well below asking on resale houses that have sat for months, especially large Manga or Crespo houses priced on “commercial potential.” Get the certificado de tradición y libertad and the latest predial receipt before any deposit, and test the price against the per-m² ranges above.

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.

Cartagena Cómo Vamos provides one of the best reality checks.

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. Agencies also push expensive properties abroad because the commissions are larger.

The ordinary Cartagena market receives far less attention.

Current listings confirm the gap. Houses around COP 210–500 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?

Think in three bands: about $95,000–300,000 for ordinary housing, $300,000–600,000 for stronger residential options and $1 million or more for prime coastal or historic houses.

The peso matters a lot right now, because the dollar has lost ground fast.

The official rate is about COP 3,190 per dollar (TRM of 22 October 2026). The dollar closed 2025 at about COP 3,757 and averaged about COP 4,053 over 2025. So a dollar buys about 15% fewer pesos than at the start of the year.

COP 1 billion is worth about $313,000 today. At the end-2025 rate, the same price was about $266,000; at the 2025 average, about $247,000.

A Cartagena house with an unchanged peso price has therefore become about 18% more expensive in dollars since January, roughly $47,000 more on a COP 1 billion house.

Forecasts disagree: BBVA expected the dollar to end 2026 near COP 3,640 (June 2026 forecast), Bancolombia an average near 3,420 for the year. Nobody can promise a rebound, so don't wait for one if the house is right.

Cartagena house price	Approx. USD (Oct 2026)	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	$251k	Strong mid-market budget
COP 1bn	$313k	Good family house, with location trade-offs
COP 1.5bn	$470k	Premium residential market
COP 2bn	$627k	High-end house
COP 3bn	$940k	Prime coastal territory
COP 5bn	$1.57m	Getsemaní and colonial luxury territory

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

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

Colombian purchases go through a public deed (escritura) and registration.

The statutory costs are the notary fee (0.3% of the price plus VAT, usually split with the seller), registration rights (1.333% of the price above about COP 495 million, per the 2026 SNR tariffs) and the departmental registration tax of 0.5–1%. Together they come to about 2–2.5% of the price. Budget 3% with a lawyer and title study: about COP 30 million on a COP 1 billion house.

Above about COP 1.05 billion (20,000 UVT), the deed also pays stamp tax: 1.5% on the slice up to about COP 2.62 billion and 3% above, usually split 50/50. On a COP 3 billion house that adds about COP 35 million in total, roughly COP 17.5 million for the buyer. On colonial houses in Getsemaní it becomes a real line item.

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

Renovation can cost much more, especially in Manga, Getsemaní and the historic center. Roofs, humidity, salt air, plumbing, wiring and structural repairs can turn a cheap-looking old house into a major project.

Heritage rules make that even more important in colonial Cartagena, where you cannot renovate a protected property however you want.

Keep a separate cash reserve above the 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 200–500 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.