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SUMMARY
Yes, Airbnb is still worth it in Colombia selectively. The opportunity is real, but simply buying in a tourist city and assuming short-term rentals will outperform is no longer a good investment strategy.
Demand is not the main problem. Medellín is still around 63% occupancy, Bogotá around 61% and Cartagena around 53%, while Colombia continues to receive far more international visitors than it did before the pandemic.
The bigger warning is that recent Airbnb revenue-growth headlines are much stronger than the underlying economics. Reported revenue jumped sharply while measured active supply fell, whereas RevPAR moved much more modestly in Medellín and Cartagena.
Conventional rentals set a surprisingly high hurdle. Gross long-term yields are roughly 7.7% in Bogotá and 7.25% in Medellín, so an Airbnb needs more than a small revenue premium once furniture, utilities, turnovers, platform fees and management are included.
Medellín still has the strongest all-round demand profile, but it has become harder to buy well there. Tourist neighborhoods carry substantial property premiums, competition is deep and the city is scrutinizing short-term-rental compliance much more closely.
Bogotá is the less obvious value case. Its nightly rates are low, but occupancy is close to Medellín's, acquisition prices are lower and the fallback economics of switching to a conventional tenant are unusually good.
Cartagena produces the most Airbnb revenue of the three markets, but that does not automatically produce the best return. Buyers already pay heavily for tourism exposure, so generic condos have a much weaker case than properties with views, historic character, strong locations or group appeal.
Regulation has become part of the investment calculation rather than an administrative detail. RNT eligibility, building rules, permitted land use, licences and guest-reporting requirements can determine whether the revenue shown in a spreadsheet is achievable at all.
Financing makes mediocre deals much worse. Colombian property prices are still rising and the policy rate is 12%, leaving heavily leveraged buyers with little margin when an unlevered property may generate only a high-single-digit gross yield.
The strongest Colombian Airbnb deals now tend to have the same basic structure: a legal right to operate, a purchase price that still works under a normal rental scenario and a property that gives furnished guests a real reason to choose it.
So the market has not stopped working; the easy thesis has. Medellín remains the strongest all-round option, Bogotá has the most interesting value trade-off, and Cartagena makes the most sense when the asset itself can genuinely earn a tourism premium.
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Is Airbnb still worth it in Colombia?
Why is Airbnb in Colombia harder to judge now?
Airbnb in Colombia can still be a good investment today, but the old shortcut of “tourism is booming, so the apartment will work” has become unreliable.
Demand remains substantial. Medellín, Bogotá and Cartagena all have large short-term-rental markets, and international tourism is far above its pre-pandemic scale. At the same time, regular Colombian rentals already generate attractive yields, popular Airbnb neighborhoods have become more expensive, and Medellín is checking short-term rentals much more closely.
So the real question for a buyer now is simple: after paying for the property, furnishing it, running it, complying with the rules and absorbing empty nights, does Airbnb leave enough extra profit to justify the hassle?
The answer changes sharply by city. AirDNA's latest market readings put annual short-term-rental revenue near $21,500 in Cartagena, $15,500 in Medellín and considerably lower in Bogotá. Yet Cartagena properties are expensive, Medellín's prime neighborhoods carry a strong tourism premium, and Bogotá has cheaper entry points plus a solid conventional rental market.
Airbnb has to be judged against the alternative use of the same property, not against zero income.
| Market | Current STR occupancy | Current ADR | Approx. annual STR revenue | Main issue for investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medellín | 63% | $71 | $15,500 | Strong demand, expensive tourist zones |
| Bogotá | 61% | $39 | $8,300 | Low ADR, cheaper entry price |
| Cartagena | 53% | $119 | $21,500 | High revenue, expensive real estate |
Is tourism in Colombia still strong enough for Airbnb?
Yes. Colombia still has more than enough tourism demand to support Airbnb, although inbound travel has lately stopped growing at the extraordinary pace seen during the post-pandemic rebound.
Colombia received roughly 6.7 million non-resident visitors in 2024, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. That gave Airbnb operators a much larger customer base than Colombia had before the pandemic.
The latest picture is more mixed. The first part of 2026 started strongly, but ANATO later reported that non-resident arrivals from January through May slipped about 1.6% year on year, from roughly 2.5 million to 2.4 million. The association pointed in part to the stronger Colombian peso, which makes Colombia more expensive for foreign visitors.
A 1.6% decline after several years of exceptional growth is hardly a collapse. Colombia also retains extensive international air connectivity, while Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena remain the country's dominant international destinations.
Long stays are especially useful for apartment owners. Recent forward-booking data from ANATO showed that more than one-fifth of international reservations involved trips lasting over 21 days. Those travelers overlap directly with one of the most attractive parts of the furnished-rental market: guests staying for weeks rather than weekends.
Tourism still supports the Airbnb thesis. What buyers can no longer assume is that national visitor growth will lift every listing regardless of price, neighborhood or quality.
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Are Airbnb revenues in Colombia really exploding right now?
No. Some of the latest Airbnb revenue growth figures look spectacular, but the underlying market data do not support the idea that owners suddenly became two or three times more profitable.
AirDNA currently reports annual revenue up roughly 92% in Medellín, 185% in Bogotá and 60% in Cartagena. Read alone, those numbers would imply an extraordinary jump in short-term-rental economics.
The same dataset, however, shows active listings falling roughly 42% in Medellín, 34% in Bogotá and 38% in Cartagena. That is a major denominator change. Airbtics had previously recorded substantial supply growth during 2025, including roughly 26% in Medellín, 33% in Bogotá and 29% in Cartagena.
RevPAR is the useful reality check because it combines occupancy with the average price earned per available night. Medellín's RevPAR is currently up about 8%, while Cartagena is roughly 2% lower. Bogotá is genuinely stronger, with RevPAR up around one-third, but even that is nowhere close to the reported 185% jump in annual revenue.
There is improvement in parts of the market, especially Bogotá. The triple-digit revenue headlines are still far too aggressive to drop straight into an investment spreadsheet.
| City | Reported annual revenue change | Active listings change | RevPAR change | What we would actually conclude |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medellín | +92% | -42% | +8% | Moderate underlying improvement |
| Bogotá | +185% | -34% | +33% | Stronger market, exaggerated headline |
| Cartagena | +60% | -38% | -2% | Little underlying improvement |
Which Colombian city is best for Airbnb right now?
Medellín remains the strongest all-round Airbnb market, Bogotá currently offers the most interesting value trade-off, and Cartagena works best when the property itself can command a genuine tourism premium.
Medellín has the cleanest demand profile of the three. AirDNA currently shows about 63% occupancy and a $71 ADR, while the city attracts leisure travelers, remote workers, business visitors and longer-stay foreigners. Demand is broad enough that a well-run apartment does not depend entirely on weekend tourism.
Cartagena wins on price per night. Its ADR is about $119, far above Medellín and Bogotá, and average annual short-term-rental revenue is also the highest. The catch is the purchase price: buyers pay heavily for access to Cartagena's tourism economy.
Bogotá looks weaker at first because its ADR is only around $39. Yet a buyer can enter many parts of Bogotá for much less money, while occupancy is currently around 61%. That changes the return calculation quite a bit.
If return on invested capital matters more than impressive booking revenue, Bogotá deserves far more attention than it usually gets.
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Is Medellín still the obvious place to buy an Airbnb?
Medellín is still the easiest Colombian Airbnb market to understand, but buying in Medellín is no longer an obvious bargain.
Current AirDNA data show roughly 14,000 active short-term rentals, about 63% occupancy and a $71 ADR. Airbtics also measured occupancy around 63% in its previous full-year dataset, so the demand level looks fairly robust even though the two data providers differ on supply and revenue.
The tougher part is the purchase price. Global Property Guide's Colombian dataset puts a one-bedroom apartment in El Poblado at roughly $198,000 and a two-bedroom near $262,000. In Laureles, the same dataset places a one-bedroom around $120,000 and a two-bedroom around $158,000.
Those numbers show why “Medellín Airbnb” is too broad a category. Two apartments targeting similar foreign guests can require radically different amounts of capital.
Competition is also deep. Airbtics counted almost 13,000 active listings after Medellín's short-term-rental supply grew about 26% during 2025. AirDNA now measures fewer active listings than a year ago, but the city still has thousands of professionally photographed, furnished apartments fighting for the same travelers.
A good Medellín Airbnb deal now starts with the acquisition price. A beautiful apartment in El Poblado can produce plenty of bookings and still deliver an ordinary return if the buyer overpaid for it.
| Medellín segment | Approx. asking purchase price | Monthly long-term asking rent | Gross long-term yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Poblado, 1-bedroom | $198,000 | $1,180 | 7.15% |
| El Poblado, 2-bedroom | $262,200 | $1,550 | 7.09% |
| Laureles, 1-bedroom | $120,300 | $720 | 7.18% |
| Laureles, 2-bedroom | $157,800 | $880 | 6.69% |
Does Cartagena's higher Airbnb revenue mean better returns?
No. Cartagena produces the highest Airbnb revenue of Colombia's three main tourist markets, but buyers also pay a large premium for the real estate.
AirDNA currently puts Cartagena at about $21,500 in annual revenue, 53% occupancy and a $119 ADR. The nightly rate is impressive and reflects Cartagena's appeal as Colombia's main international beach and heritage destination.
Global Property Guide's asking-price sample puts a Cartagena one-bedroom around $168,500 and a two-bedroom near $187,300. Conventional gross rental yields average only about 5.6%, well below Bogotá and Medellín.
Buyers are already paying for Cartagena's tourism appeal when they acquire the property. The Airbnb income does not arrive on top of a cheap residential asset.
Longer-term supply data reinforce the point. Airbtics found that Cartagena's active short-term-rental stock roughly doubled over a three-year period while median annual revenue per listing ended that period lower. More apartments entered the market without creating anything close to the same growth in income per property.
The latest AirDNA figures show fewer active listings now, yet Cartagena's RevPAR is still slightly below a year ago. High room rates remain real; a broad improvement in unit economics is much harder to find.
Cartagena still makes sense for a property with something travelers will pay extra for: a strong sea view, historic character, an unusually good location or a format that works for groups. A generic condo bought at a tourist price is much less convincing.
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Is Bogotá a better Airbnb investment than people think?
Yes. Bogotá currently looks more interesting for Airbnb than its low nightly rates suggest because the entry price is lower and the fallback to a conventional lease is unusually strong.
AirDNA puts Bogotá's short-term-rental occupancy around 61%, surprisingly close to Medellín's 63%. Its $39 ADR is much lower, but the city serves a broader mix of business trips, domestic travel, medical visits, events and longer stays.
Purchase prices change the equation. Global Property Guide's dataset puts a citywide one-bedroom around $89,000 and a two-bedroom around $125,000. In Chapinero, a one-bedroom is roughly $90,000 in the same sample.
Bogotá also has one of the strongest conventional rental markets in Colombia. Average gross long-term yield is about 7.7%, while one-bedroom apartments citywide are close to 7.9%.
That gives a buyer a useful exit route. If short-term bookings disappoint, the building becomes less Airbnb-friendly or the investor simply gets tired of operating the property, switching to a normal tenant can still produce respectable income.
Bogotá does not need Cartagena-level room rates to work. A cheap enough apartment with 60%-plus occupancy can compete surprisingly well on return on capital.
Can Airbnb still beat a normal rental in Colombia?
Yes, but Airbnb needs a clear revenue advantage because ordinary Colombian rentals are already paying around 7% gross and require much less work.
Global Property Guide's latest Colombian data put average gross long-term yields around 7.7% in Bogotá, 7.25% in Medellín and 5.6% in Cartagena. Across Colombia, the average is close to 7%.
Those are strong hurdle rates. Airbnb owners normally cover furniture, utilities, recurring maintenance and guest-related wear that a conventional landlord either avoids or passes to the tenant. They also have more frequent vacancies and turnovers.
Management can take another large piece. Colombian short-term-rental operators commonly advertise full-service commissions around 15% to 25% of booking revenue. At a 20% management rate, COP 80 million in bookings immediately becomes COP 64 million before utilities, maintenance, taxes and other owner costs.
Airbnb's fee structure also deserves attention. Airbnb currently uses both split-fee and single-fee models, and it has been moving hosts who use property-management software toward a single host fee of 15.5%. Hosts can raise their displayed rate to preserve the same payout, but only when the local market will accept the higher price.
Imagine a property earning 7% gross on a normal lease and 10% gross as an Airbnb. The apparent short-term-rental advantage is three percentage points. A management company charging 20% of Airbnb revenue consumes two percentage points of the property's value before utilities and extra maintenance even enter the picture.
For a self-managing owner, the gap can remain attractive. For somebody living abroad and outsourcing everything, a small gross Airbnb premium is usually not enough.
| Cost or friction | Normal lease | Airbnb |
|---|---|---|
| Furniture | Sometimes limited | Usually substantial |
| Utilities | Usually paid by tenant | Usually paid by owner |
| Turnovers | Infrequent | Frequent |
| Management workload | Low | High |
| Professional management | Relatively modest | Often 15%–25% of revenue |
| Platform fees | None | Can materially affect host payout |
| Revenue upside | Limited by lease | Higher, but variable |
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Is Airbnb regulation now a serious risk in Colombia?
Yes. Legal compliance has become one of the first things we would check before buying a Colombian Airbnb, especially in Medellín.
Colombian tourist accommodation generally needs a Registro Nacional de Turismo, or RNT. For an apartment inside a propiedad horizontal, the building's governing documents must also authorize tourist accommodation.
Medellín's current guidance goes much further than simply telling hosts to obtain an RNT. The city says operators should verify the property's permitted land use under the POT, the relevant construction licence, the building authorization, RUT, commercial registration, foreign-guest reporting through SIRE, accommodation registration and fire-safety compliance.
Enforcement is also visible. Medellín recently reported 93 technical investigations involving possible urban-planning violations at short-term rentals. The issues included prohibited land uses, unauthorized changes of use, unlicensed alterations and violations of property-horizontal rules. Authorities found 34 establishments without the necessary licence documentation.
The city is also reviewing how tourist housing fits into the next stage of its planning rules. Recent POT work explicitly treats stays under 30 days as hospitality activity and proposes concentrating that use in specific mixed-use areas.
For buyers, the consequence is pretty blunt: a spreadsheet showing 65% occupancy has little value if the apartment cannot legally be operated the way the spreadsheet assumes.
Building rules deserve the same attention. Medellín's latest guidance says tourist use inside a horizontal-property regime needs express authorization in the building regulations; where that authorization does not exist, approval from the co-owners' assembly and formal incorporation into the relevant documents may be required.
We would ask for the actual property-horizontal rules, planning status and licence documentation before making an offer. A broker saying that a building is “Airbnb-friendly” is not enough.
| Check before buying | What can go wrong |
|---|---|
| RNT eligibility | Tourist operation may lack required registration |
| Property-horizontal rules | Building may prohibit tourist stays |
| Land use under the POT | Location may not allow the activity |
| Construction licence / authorized use | Property may lack the required hospitality use |
| RUT and commercial registration | Operator may be non-compliant |
| SIRE and accommodation reporting | Foreign guests create reporting obligations |
| Fire and safety requirements | Inspection can expose deficiencies |
Are high rates and rising property prices making Colombian Airbnb deals worse?
Yes. New buyers face a much tougher equation because Colombian property prices are still rising while borrowing remains expensive.
DANE's latest new-housing index showed prices increasing 2.41% in the second quarter of 2026 after a 2.79% rise in the first quarter. Compounded, that is roughly 5.3% over six months. Apartment prices alone increased 2.37% in the latest quarter.
Existing owners may welcome those gains. Someone buying today has to produce the same rental income on a higher acquisition cost, which pushes the yield down unless nightly rates or occupancy also rise.
Financing makes the hurdle tougher. Banco de la República's current policy rate is 12%. A property returning 7% or 8% before financing has very little room to carry expensive debt without hurting cash flow.
The difference between cash buyers and leveraged buyers is huge these days. A cash investor might be satisfied with a property producing a respectable operating return plus potential appreciation. A buyer financing a large share of the purchase needs a much stronger Airbnb business simply to stay cash-flow positive.
This is why some attractive-looking Airbnb projects disappoint once financing is added. High occupancy cannot repair a deal where the property and the debt were both too expensive from the start.
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Does the Colombian peso change Airbnb returns for foreign buyers?
Yes. Currency moves can change a foreign investor's real Airbnb return even when the apartment earns exactly the same number of pesos.
ANATO recently highlighted this effect when the Colombian peso strengthened to around COP 3,444 per US dollar at the end of June. A stronger peso makes Colombia more expensive for international visitors while increasing the dollar value of Colombian income for someone converting pesos back into dollars.
A weaker peso does the reverse. Foreign guests may find a Medellín or Cartagena stay cheaper, which can help demand, while the owner's peso income becomes worth less after conversion into dollars or euros.
The exposure is more important for an investor who eventually plans to take the profits out of Colombia. Someone who earns, spends and reinvests in pesos has much less of a currency mismatch.
We would avoid treating exchange-rate gains as part of the property's core yield. They can improve a good investment, but they can just as easily move against the owner.
What kind of Airbnb property still works best in Colombia?
The best Colombian Airbnb setup now is usually a property bought at a sensible residential price that also has a strong reason to perform as furnished accommodation.
Small apartments fit that profile particularly well in Bogotá and Medellín. They require less capital, cost less to furnish and can attract couples, solo travelers, business visitors and remote workers. If Airbnb underperforms, they are generally easier to move into monthly or conventional rental markets.
A genuinely differentiated tourist property can also work very well. In Cartagena, that might mean historic character, a serious sea view or space for groups. In Medellín, location, outdoor space, design and views can separate a listing from the huge supply of standard furnished apartments.
Generic investor units deserve more skepticism. When a developer sells dozens of almost identical apartments using the same Airbnb return projection, those units eventually compete with each other on the same platforms.
The strongest deals we found have three things in common: the legal right to operate is clear, the purchase price still makes sense under a normal rental scenario, and the property gives guests a concrete reason to choose it.
When all three are present, Airbnb adds upside. When the purchase only works under an optimistic short-term-rental forecast, the margin for error is thin.
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Is Airbnb still worth it in Colombia now?
Yes, selectively. Airbnb is still worth it in Colombia today, but we would buy far fewer properties for short-term rental than the country's strong tourism numbers alone might suggest.
Demand is still there. Medellín runs around 63% occupancy, Bogotá around 61% and Cartagena around 53%. Cartagena can still command about $119 per booked night, while Medellín has one of the broadest mixes of foreign, leisure and extended-stay demand in the country.
The investment hurdle, however, has clearly moved higher.
Regular rentals already produce roughly 7% gross nationally, with Bogotá around 7.7% and Medellín around 7.25%. A professionally managed Airbnb therefore needs considerably more booking revenue to justify its extra costs.
Property prices are still rising, and Colombia's 12% policy rate makes leveraged purchases particularly unforgiving. Medellín has also made the compliance issue much harder to wave away: RNT registration, building authorization, planning rules and licensing can directly determine whether the projected income is achievable.
And the latest spectacular Airbnb revenue-growth figures need some skepticism. The huge reported increases came alongside a sharp change in measured active supply, while RevPAR tells a much calmer story in Medellín and Cartagena.
For a cash buyer who finds a legally approved apartment at a normal residential valuation, Airbnb can still produce an attractive return. Medellín remains the strongest all-round market, Bogotá currently offers an underrated combination of price and fallback rental income, and Cartagena works best when the property can genuinely earn its tourism premium.
A different buyer faces a much weaker proposition: someone paying extra because a project is marketed as “Airbnb-ready,” borrowing heavily at today's rates and handing 20% of bookings to a manager can end up with a net return surprisingly close to a normal lease.
Airbnb in Colombia still works. These days, the money is in choosing the property well rather than simply choosing Airbnb.
OUR METHODOLOGY
Whether Airbnb is still worth it in Colombia looks like a simple question, but there is no single metric that answers it well. Strong tourism can coexist with expensive property, rising competition, tighter regulation or perfectly attractive returns from a conventional tenant. We therefore tested the investment case across demand, short-term-rental economics, property prices, conventional-rental alternatives, operating friction, regulation, financing and currency.
For each dimension, we used the freshest available evidence that showed the economics most directly. Short-term-rental occupancy, ADR, annual revenue and active-listing data were read alongside RevPAR rather than in isolation. This was particularly important where reported annual revenue growth looked unusually strong.
We also compared Airbnb economics with the price of acquiring the same property and the return available from a conventional lease. The city producing the most booking revenue is therefore not automatically treated as the best investment; the capital required, operating costs and fallback rental yield all affect the result.
Regulation is treated as part of the investment case rather than as a separate legal footnote. RNT requirements, propiedad horizontal rules, permitted land use, licence documentation, foreign-guest reporting and Medellín's recent enforcement activity can directly affect whether projected short-term-rental income is achievable.
Financing and currency were handled in the same way. Colombia's current monetary-policy rate and recent housing-price increases are used to judge how forgiving the investment is for a leveraged buyer, while exchange-rate movements are treated as an additional source of upside or downside rather than part of the property's underlying rental yield.
The final city-level conclusions are based on the direction of evidence across these factors rather than on any single ranking. Medellín's demand depth, Bogotá's lower acquisition cost and strong conventional-rental fallback, and Cartagena's higher tourism revenue are therefore weighed against their respective property prices, costs and operating constraints before reaching a conclusion.
Key sources used for this analysis include MINCIT on Colombia's 2024 tourism record, ANATO on 2026 non-resident arrivals and the peso effect, ANATO on international forward bookings and longer stays, AirDNA for Medellín, AirDNA for Bogotá, AirDNA for Cartagena, Airbtics on Colombian short-term-rental supply trends, Airbtics on Medellín's previous full-year market data, and Global Property Guide on purchase prices, rents and gross rental yields.
For regulation and operating requirements, we relied on Medellín's guidance for legal short-term-rental operation, Medellín's recent enforcement report, Confecámaras for RNT registration and renewal, MINCIT's tourism-formalization guidance, Migración Colombia on SIRE reporting, and Medellín's POT review covering short-term tourist accommodation.
Housing and financing conditions were checked against DANE's new-housing price index and Banco de la República's July 2026 policy-rate decision. Airbnb's own host-service-fee documentation was used for the platform-fee discussion.
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