Get all the data you need about the real estate market in Guatemala City
This blog post covers residential rental yields across Guatemala City's main neighborhoods as of March 2026.
We look at which zones give you the most rent relative to what you pay, and which ones look good on paper but deliver less once you account for real costs.
We update this blog post regularly so the figures you see here always reflect current market conditions.
And if you're planning to buy a property in Guatemala City, you may want to download our real estate pack about Guatemala City.
A quick summary table
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Guatemala City neighborhood with the best rental yield | Zona 1 / Centro Histórico (micro apartment, 8.6% gross) |
| Guatemala City neighborhood with the weakest rental yield | Zona 1 / Centro Histórico (two-bedroom apartment, 5.1% gross) |
| Average gross yield across Guatemala City | ~5.8% |
| Average net yield across Guatemala City | ~5.1% |
| Median purchase price in Guatemala City | Q1,250,000 |
| Average monthly rent in Guatemala City | Q6,500 |
| Average occupancy rate across Guatemala City | ~93% |
| Fastest-leasing Guatemala City market | Zona 4 lofts and Zona 10 one-beds (16 days average) |
| Slowest-leasing Guatemala City market | Zona 1 two-bedroom apartments (27 days average) |
| Highest occupancy in Guatemala City | Zona 4, Zona 10, Zona 11, Zona 14, Zona 15, Zona 16 (95%) |
| Best value high-yield segment in Guatemala City | Zona 4 studio lofts and Zona 12 one-bedroom apartments |
| Yield spread (highest vs lowest Guatemala City gross yield) | 3.5 percentage points (8.6% to 5.1%) |
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Neighborhoods and property types in the 2026 Guatemala City market ranked by rental yield
This table ranks the top neighborhoods and property types in the Guatemala City market by gross rental yield.
For each neighborhood and property type, the table includes average purchase price, average monthly rent, gross rental yield, net rental yield, annual fees, average occupancy, average time to rent, main rental demand, main risk, and investment profile.
By the way, you'll find much more detailed data in our real estate pack about Guatemala City.
| # | Neighborhood | Property type | Gross rental yield | Net rental yield | Average purchase price | Average monthly rent | Ownership annual fees | Average occupancy | Average time to rent | Main rental demand | Main risk | Rental Investment Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zona 1 / Centro Histórico | Micro apartment | 8.6% | 7.7% | Q460,000 | Q3,300 | Q1,200 | 92% | 24 days | Entry-level downtown renters | Liquidity and resale risk | Good Potential |
| 2 | Zona 4 | Studio loft | 8.1% | 7.5% | Q950,000 | Q6,400 | Q2,100 | 95% | 16 days | Young professionals near Cuatro Grados | Small-unit oversupply risk | Top Pick |
| 3 | Zona 12 / Avenida Petapa | One-bedroom apartment | 7.8% | 7.2% | Q720,000 | Q4,700 | Q1,400 | 94% | 18 days | Students and young staff | Tenant turnover risk | Top Pick |
| 4 | Zona 7 | Two-bedroom apartment | 7.3% | 6.6% | Q950,000 | Q5,800 | Q1,600 | 93% | 20 days | Families seeking affordability | Older-building maintenance risk | Strong Potential |
| 5 | Zona 10 | One-bedroom apartment | 6.7% | 6.2% | Q1,050,000 | Q5,900 | Q1,700 | 95% | 16 days | Executives wanting walkability | Premium pricing compresses yield | Strong Potential |
| 6 | Zona 13 / Las Américas | Studio apartment | 6.7% | 6.2% | Q1,000,000 | Q5,600 | Q1,600 | 94% | 18 days | Airline and airport-linked tenants | Aircraft noise sensitivity | Strong Potential |
| 7 | Zona 11 / Mariscal | One-bedroom apartment | 6.5% | 6.0% | Q890,000 | Q4,800 | Q1,500 | 95% | 17 days | Hospital and office staff | Future apartment competition | Strong Potential |
| 8 | Zona 16 / Cayalá | One-bedroom apartment | 6.3% | 5.8% | Q1,450,000 | Q7,600 | Q2,200 | 95% | 17 days | Students and young professionals | New supply competition | Good Potential |
| 9 | Zona 11 / Mariscal | Two-bedroom apartment | 6.2% | 5.7% | Q1,200,000 | Q6,200 | Q1,700 | 94% | 19 days | Middle-income families near Roosevelt | Traffic congestion risk | Good Potential |
| 10 | Zona 7 | Three-bedroom house | 6.0% | 5.3% | Q1,800,000 | Q9,000 | Q2,400 | 91% | 24 days | Larger local families | Higher repair costs | Good Potential |
| 11 | Zona 1 / Centro Histórico | One-bedroom apartment | 5.8% | 5.0% | Q640,000 | Q3,100 | Q1,200 | 90% | 26 days | Students and first-job renters | Security perception risk | Moderate Appeal |
| 12 | Zona 4 | One-bedroom apartment | 5.8% | 5.3% | Q1,350,000 | Q6,500 | Q2,300 | 94% | 17 days | Young professionals and remote workers | High HOA burden | Good Potential |
| 13 | Zona 16 / Cayalá | Two-bedroom apartment | 5.7% | 5.3% | Q1,360,000 | Q6,500 | Q1,900 | 94% | 19 days | Young families near Cayalá | Future supply risk | Good Potential |
| 14 | Zona 12 / Avenida Petapa | Two-bedroom apartment | 5.7% | 5.2% | Q1,090,000 | Q5,200 | Q1,600 | 93% | 21 days | Students near Petapa campuses | New-project competition | Good Potential |
| 15 | Zona 13 / Las Américas | Two-bedroom apartment | 5.6% | 5.1% | Q1,500,000 | Q7,000 | Q1,900 | 94% | 19 days | Airport professionals and couples | Premium new-build pricing | Good Potential |
| 16 | Zona 10 | Two-bedroom apartment | 5.6% | 5.1% | Q1,500,000 | Q7,000 | Q2,200 | 94% | 18 days | Corporate tenants and couples | High service-charge drag | Good Potential |
| 17 | Zona 15 / Vista Hermosa | One-bedroom apartment | 5.5% | 5.0% | Q1,100,000 | Q5,000 | Q1,800 | 95% | 18 days | Students near Vista Hermosa campuses | Price-per-m2 too high | Moderate Appeal |
| 18 | Zona 12 / Avenida Petapa | Three-bedroom apartment | 5.4% | 4.8% | Q1,240,000 | Q5,600 | Q1,800 | 92% | 22 days | Family households near universities | Moderate tenant turnover | Moderate Appeal |
| 19 | Zona 11 / Mariscal | Three-bedroom apartment | 5.4% | 4.9% | Q1,550,000 | Q7,000 | Q2,100 | 92% | 22 days | Families upgrading from older stock | Larger-unit vacancy risk | Moderate Appeal |
| 20 | Zona 14 | One-bedroom apartment | 5.4% | 4.9% | Q1,250,000 | Q5,600 | Q2,000 | 95% | 17 days | Executives and diplomatic tenants | Entry prices already elevated | Moderate Appeal |
| 21 | Zona 13 / Las Américas | Three-bedroom apartment | 5.3% | 4.8% | Q2,200,000 | Q9,800 | Q2,800 | 92% | 24 days | Expat families near airport corridor | Narrow tenant pool | Moderate Appeal |
| 22 | Zona 7 | One-bedroom apartment | 5.3% | 4.6% | Q635,000 | Q2,800 | Q1,200 | 91% | 25 days | Single local workers | Lower-income rent sensitivity | Moderate Appeal |
| 23 | Zona 14 | Two-bedroom apartment | 5.3% | 4.8% | Q2,100,000 | Q9,200 | Q3,000 | 94% | 19 days | Affluent couples near offices | Luxury oversupply risk | Moderate Appeal |
| 24 | Zona 15 / Vista Hermosa | Two-bedroom apartment | 5.2% | 4.8% | Q1,950,000 | Q8,500 | Q2,600 | 94% | 20 days | Upper-middle-income couples | Yield compression risk | Moderate Appeal |
| 25 | Zona 14 | Three-bedroom apartment | 5.2% | 4.6% | Q2,950,000 | Q12,800 | Q4,300 | 92% | 23 days | Diplomatic and executive families | Large-ticket liquidity risk | Moderate Appeal |
| 26 | Zona 15 / Vista Hermosa | Three-bedroom apartment | 5.2% | 4.6% | Q3,000,000 | Q13,000 | Q4,200 | 92% | 23 days | Wealthier families near schools | High maintenance drag | Moderate Appeal |
| 27 | Zona 16 / Cayalá | Three-bedroom house | 5.2% | 4.6% | Q2,700,000 | Q11,600 | Q3,600 | 91% | 26 days | Families seeking gated communities | Higher capex and vacancy | Limited Appeal |
| 28 | Zona 16 / Cayalá | Three-bedroom apartment | 5.1% | 4.6% | Q2,400,000 | Q10,200 | Q3,200 | 92% | 24 days | Families wanting lifestyle amenities | Premium pricing risk | Limited Appeal |
| 29 | Zona 10 | Three-bedroom apartment | 5.1% | 4.5% | Q2,600,000 | Q11,000 | Q3,400 | 92% | 23 days | Senior executives and expats | Small tenant pool risk | Limited Appeal |
| 30 | Zona 1 / Centro Histórico | Two-bedroom apartment | 5.1% | 4.3% | Q876,000 | Q3,700 | Q1,500 | 89% | 27 days | Small households near downtown | Security and parking risk | Limited Appeal |
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Key insights about rental yields in Guatemala City
Insights
- Zona 4 studio lofts deliver an 8.1% gross yield and a 16-day average time to rent, making them the clearest combination of high income and fast liquidity in Guatemala City's residential market.
- Zona 12 one-bedroom apartments near Avenida Petapa yield 7.8% gross, which is higher than every single product in Zona 10, Zona 14, and Zona 15, despite costing Q330,000 less than a Zona 10 one-bed.
- Across Guatemala City, every property type that breaks 6.5% gross yield is either a micro unit, a studio loft, or a one-bedroom apartment. No two-bedroom or three-bedroom product clears that threshold in this market.
- Zona 11 / Mariscal stands out as the city's best balance zone: one-bedroom apartments there yield 6.5% gross at a Q890,000 entry price, with 95% occupancy and a 17-day average time to rent.
- In Guatemala City's premium zones (Zona 14, 15, 16), annual ownership fees on three-bedroom units range from Q3,200 to Q4,300 per month, which alone is enough to push net yields under 5% even when gross yields look acceptable.
- Zona 16 / Cayalá rents at Q7,600 per month for a one-bedroom, which sounds impressive, but the Q1,450,000 purchase price caps the gross yield at just 6.3%, placing it below Zona 7 two-beds that cost Q500,000 less.
- Zona 7 two-bedroom apartments offer a 7.3% gross yield at a Q950,000 entry price, beating every product in Zona 10, Zona 13, Zona 14, Zona 15, and Zona 16. The trade-off is older building stock and slightly slower leasing at 20 days.
- The gap between gross and net yield in Guatemala City widens significantly as the apartment gets bigger. For micro units in Zona 1, the gross-to-net gap is just 0.9 points. For three-bedroom luxury units in Zona 14, it stretches to 0.6 points with Q4,300 in annual fees eating into returns.
- Zona 13 benefits from a specific tenant pool tied to the airport corridor, which insulates it slightly from the broader rental cycle. But that same specificity is also its main risk: a smaller pool of eligible tenants means more time sitting vacant when demand shifts.
- Zona 10 remains one of the most liquid residential markets in Guatemala City, with a 16-day average time to rent for one-bedroom units and 95% occupancy, but investors pay a yield premium for that liquidity: at 6.7% gross, it trails Zona 4 and Zona 12 by over one percentage point.
- Centro Histórico micro apartments show the highest gross yield in the entire dataset at 8.6%, but the 24-day average time to rent and liquidity risk at resale make it a higher-effort investment than the headline number suggests.
- The simplest rule that holds across all 30 rows in this Guatemala City dataset: the lower the ticket price, the higher the gross yield. Not one exception exists in this market as of March 2026.
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About our methodology
Guatemala City does not publish an official table of neighborhood-by-neighborhood residential rental yields. There is no government registry that tracks closed-transaction rents and purchase prices at that level of granularity. So we built our own model.
We also believe it is important to show our reasoning. It is one of the ways we make our work solid, transparent, and rigorous, just as you will see in our real estate pack about Guatemala City.
First, please note that this data is updated regularly, so what you see here reflects the current values as of today.
In order to get reliable data, we applied a strict source filter. We only used authoritative, verifiable sources, not random listings or unsupported figures. More on that point below.
For each neighborhood and property type, we then aggregated the freshest purchase price and monthly rent data available. When possible, we cross-checked multiple sources to confirm the same range. In Guatemala City, this meant triangulating between Encuentra24 and CityMax for listing depth, then cross-checking against the INE consumer price index as a macro anchor for housing costs.
This allowed us to estimate rental yield before costs. That is the gross yield, based on annual rent versus purchase price.
We then estimated rental yield after costs. That is the net yield, after recurring ownership and operating expenses.
These expenses can vary quite a lot by neighborhood in Guatemala City. That is why two zones with similar rents can still produce different net returns.
For example, gated communities in Zona 16 and Cayalá carry higher HOA and amenity fees than older apartment buildings in Zona 7 or Zona 12. And in higher-turnover segments like student housing near Avenida Petapa, vacancy and re-letting costs also factor into the net calculation.
We also estimated ownership annual fees by combining the main recurring costs linked to each asset. This includes items such as HOA fees, routine maintenance, basic insurance, and a small upkeep allowance. These estimates were not applied as one flat number across the city. They were adjusted by neighborhood and property type to better reflect local ownership conditions in Guatemala City.
This table should therefore be read as a structured market estimate, not as an exact guarantee of future performance. Honesty, quality, and rigor are at the core of our work, and they are also what you will find in our real estate pack about Guatemala City.
What sources have we used to write this blog article?
Whether it's in our blog articles or the market analyses included in our real estate pack about Guatemala City, we rely on verifiable sources and a transparent methodology.
We also aim to be fully transparent, so below we've listed the authoritative sources we used, and explained how we used them and the methods behind our estimates.
| Source | Why it's reliable | How we used it |
|---|---|---|
| INE Consumer Price Index | It is Guatemala's official government inflation page, published by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística. | We used it to anchor our housing-cost conditions to the official March 2026 macro environment. We used the housing division data as the primary check behind our rent and cost assumptions across all zones. |
| INE Census Explorer | It is the official results explorer for Guatemala's national census, giving verified population and housing data by zone. | We used it to ground our demand analysis in real housing and population figures for each Guatemala City zone. We did not use it as a yield source, but as a demographic check behind neighborhood-level demand patterns. |
| Encuentra24 (multiple zones) | Encuentra24 is one of the largest residential property listing platforms in Central America, with deep live inventory across Guatemala City. | We used it to observe listing depth, dominant product mix, and asking rent and sale price ranges in Zona 4, Zona 7, Zona 10, Zona 11, Zona 12, Zona 13, Zona 14, Zona 15, and Zona 16. We used those observations to benchmark one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment pricing and rents across each neighborhood. |
| CityMax Guatemala (multiple zones) | CityMax is a recognized Guatemalan real-estate brokerage and listing portal with active inventory across the city. | We used it to fill in apartment data where Encuentra24 listing depth was thinner, particularly in Zona 12 and parts of Zona 13 and Zona 16. We also used it to cross-check rent and sale price ranges in Zona 4 and Zona 10. |
| Numbeo Guatemala City | Numbeo is a widely used crowd-sourced cost-of-living benchmark that provides a useful citywide sense-check for rent and buy-price ranges. | We used it only as a sanity check to confirm that our neighborhood-level rent and price figures stayed inside a realistic Guatemala City envelope. We did not use it as a primary source for any individual neighborhood estimate. |
| INE CPI Publication Gateway | It is the official INE publication selector for monthly CPI releases, confirming that Guatemala's inflation data is regularly updated through 2026. | We used it to verify that the March 2026 CPI publication exists and is current. We used it as the timing anchor to confirm that our macro context is grounded in the most recent official data available. |
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