Is Laureles getting too expensive?

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Why does Laureles suddenly feel so expensive?

Laureles feels much more expensive today because housing prices moved far faster than the neighborhood’s old reputation as Medellín’s affordable alternative to El Poblado.

The clearest evidence comes from the Lonja de Propiedad Raíz de Medellín y Antioquia. In its 2023 residential market report, the average asking rent for a 50–70 m² property in Laureles was COP 22,675 per m². In the next study, it reached COP 39,265. For apartments between 70 and 90 m², the figure moved from COP 19,642 to COP 37,335 per m².

Those increases work out to roughly 73% and 90%. Ordinary Colombian inflation cannot explain anything close to that jump.

Still, renters did not suddenly receive 80% increases on existing leases. Colombian residential contracts limit annual increases on continuing leases based on the previous year’s inflation. Much of the repricing becomes visible when an apartment returns to the market, gets renovated, moves into the furnished segment or starts targeting foreigners and temporary tenants.

That creates two very different experiences inside the same neighborhood. Someone who signed a conventional local lease several years ago can still have a surprisingly reasonable rent. Someone arriving today and searching for a furnished apartment around Segundo Parque, Avenida Nutibara or the tourist core sees a much more expensive version of Laureles.

The cheap-Laureles reputation has simply taken longer to disappear than the cheap prices themselves.

Is Laureles actually expensive by Medellín standards today?

Yes. Laureles currently sits among Medellín’s more expensive rental areas, even though El Poblado remains clearly pricier.

Current ClickCasa inventory includes more than 1,400 Laureles listings across Colombian property portals. Its two-bedroom median sits around COP 3 million per month, while the middle half of those listings stretches roughly from COP 2.1 million to COP 4.9 million. A broader ElBroker sample gives a Laureles apartment median closer to COP 4 million because its inventory contains many larger three-bedroom properties.

The citywide comparison tells us more than either figure alone. ClickCasa currently places El Poblado around COP 6 million, Laureles around COP 3–3.7 million depending on the property mix, Belén around COP 3 million and La América closer to COP 2.3 million.

So Laureles has clearly moved into Medellín’s premium tier. Someone choosing it over La América, Robledo or many parts of Belén is now paying a real neighborhood premium.

What does a normal Laureles apartment cost now?

A normal long-term Laureles apartment now costs roughly COP 1.5–2.5 million for a smaller unfurnished one-bedroom, COP 2.2–3.8 million for a two-bedroom and COP 3–5.5 million for a larger three-bedroom.

We compared several current rental inventories rather than treating Airbnb prices as representative of the whole neighborhood. Colombia Move’s review of Laureles listings puts unfurnished studios and one-bedrooms at COP 1.5–2.5 million, two-bedrooms at COP 2.2–3.8 million and three-bedrooms at COP 3–5.5 million.

Furnished inventory moves into a different range. One-bedrooms commonly reach COP 2–3.5 million, two-bedrooms COP 3–5 million and three-bedrooms COP 4–6.5 million.

Live portal data broadly fit those ranges. ClickCasa’s current two-bedroom median is around COP 3 million, while ElBroker’s overall Laureles apartment median runs higher because large units make up more of its sample.

This is a useful reality check on the eye-catching prices found on English-language rental sites. A COP 6 million two-bedroom certainly exists in Laureles these days, but it already sits at the expensive end of the market. It should never be treated as a normal local rent.

Have Laureles rents really risen that much?

Yes. Laureles rents have risen unusually fast, and the scale of the increase is large enough that listing-composition differences cannot explain it away.

The Lonja gives us the best clean comparison by apartment size. Between its 2023 dataset and its following residential study, average advertised rent per square meter in Laureles rose from COP 22,675 to COP 39,265 for 50–70 m² apartments. For 70–90 m² units, it climbed from COP 19,642 to COP 37,335. For 90–110 m² properties, it moved from COP 20,409 to COP 36,568.

That means increases of roughly 73%, 90% and 79%.

The same reports show sale prices rising much more slowly, roughly 29–41% across those three size categories. Rent accelerated far more aggressively than property values.

Properati had already picked up the same direction earlier. In early 2023, Bolivariana, inside Laureles-Estadio, showed the largest rent-per-square-meter increase among the Medellín neighborhoods it analyzed, while Laureles itself had entered the city’s 20 most expensive rental areas.

These numbers are not a perfect repeat-sales index. The apartments advertised in one period are not necessarily identical to those advertised in another. Even so, increases approaching 80% across several size bands point to a real neighborhood repricing.

Is Laureles still cheaper than El Poblado?

Yes. Laureles still gives renters and buyers a meaningful discount to El Poblado, although that discount no longer makes Laureles cheap in absolute terms.

Large current listing datasets generally place comparable Laureles rents around 20–35% below El Poblado, with an even wider gap in some property categories. Furnished-rental specialists show the same hierarchy: good Laureles apartments have become expensive, while similar inventory in El Poblado usually goes higher.

Sale prices tell the same story. ElBroker’s current apartment inventory places Laureles around COP 7.1 million per m² and El Poblado around COP 9.6 million. That leaves Laureles about 26% cheaper per square meter in that sample.

The comparison becomes more revealing when we move in the other direction. Laureles now commands a clear premium over La América, much of Belén and many western Medellín neighborhoods.

A few years ago, Laureles could offer something close to local pricing while giving renters much of the lifestyle foreigners wanted from El Poblado. Today, buyers and renters still get a Poblado discount, but they are paying much more for Laureles itself.

Is Laureles becoming unaffordable for Colombians?

Yes, for many people earning local salaries, Laureles is already beyond a comfortable housing budget.

The Antioquia employment observatory calculated from DANE data that a formal worker earned an average of about COP 2.21 million per month in 2025, with a median of COP 1.8 million. Informal workers averaged roughly COP 1.27 million. Colombia’s current monthly minimum wage is around COP 1.75 million before the transport allowance.

A Laureles two-bedroom around COP 3 million therefore costs more than the entire monthly salary of many individual workers.

Even a household with two workers each earning the formal median would bring in about COP 3.6 million. A COP 3 million rent would absorb roughly 83% of that combined income before utilities, food, transportation, administration fees or anything else.

Of course, Laureles residents are richer than the average Antioquia worker. Laureles-Estadio ranked second among Medellín’s comunas in the city’s 2025 quality-of-life index, behind El Poblado. The relevant local income distribution is stronger than the regional average.

But that only changes the degree of the problem. Current Laureles prices increasingly fit upper-middle-income households, established property owners and people with outside income. A normal single Colombian salary has largely fallen out of the market for the better apartments.

For local affordability, the answer is already pretty sharp: Laureles has become expensive.

Are foreigners really pushing Laureles rents up?

Yes, foreign demand is putting upward pressure on Laureles rents, but the neighborhood’s boom has several sources rather than one easy culprit.

Medellín’s tourism expansion is now large enough to affect housing incentives. The city received roughly 954,600 tourists in the first half of 2025, up 12.4% from a year earlier, including around 546,000 international visitors. Medellín’s tourism authorities estimate that the city now receives roughly 1.3 million international tourists annually, with visitors from the United States accounting for about 32%.

Laureles has become deeply connected to that growth. Medellín measured 1.29 million visits to the Carrera 70 corridor during 2025 from people representing 64 countries. The municipality also places Laureles-Estadio among the areas where tourist accommodation has expanded significantly.

That gives landlords more ways to monetize the same apartment. A conventional tenant now competes with furnished monthly renters, temporary visitors and foreigners who can pay rents that still look modest in dollar terms.

Domestic demand remains powerful at the same time. Metrocuadrado recorded more than 220,000 searches for Laureles during the first ten months of 2025, making it Medellín’s most searched neighborhood on the platform.

So foreign tenants clearly add pressure, especially around the parks, Carrera 70 and the furnished market. Yet Laureles would still be highly desirable without them. Local wealthier households, investors and domestic movers are chasing the same limited stock.

Has Airbnb changed Laureles enough to affect normal rents?

Yes. Short-term rentals are now common enough in Laureles to influence what landlords expect from an apartment, especially in streets already exposed to tourism.

Medellín’s own government increasingly treats temporary accommodation as a land-use and housing issue. During inspections in 2025, the city focused on El Poblado, Laureles, Belén, La Candelaria and Santa Elena because those areas together held close to 80% of Medellín’s short-term rental supply.

The municipality has specifically pointed out that Laureles and El Poblado were designed mainly as residential areas, while the rapid spread of tourist accommodation has changed how some buildings and streets function.

Residents have noticed the same thing. During consultation for Medellín’s land-use plan revision, people in Laureles-Estadio raised temporary rentals, noise, insecurity and higher housing costs among their concerns.

Tighter enforcement could eventually return some apartments to the conventional rental pool. The city has already stepped up technical inspections and administrative proceedings where tourist accommodation conflicts with land-use rules, building regulations or registration requirements.

Still, Airbnb enforcement is unlikely to drag the whole neighborhood back to old price levels. Laureles has strong conventional demand, scarce land in its best pockets and one of the city’s strongest quality-of-life profiles. The biggest effect is more likely to be on the streets where tourist pricing became detached from normal residential use.

Are furnished rentals making Laureles look more expensive than it really is?

Yes. Furnished and flexible rentals make Laureles look considerably more expensive online than the conventional Colombian lease market underneath them.

A normal unfurnished one-bedroom can still be found around COP 1.5–2.5 million, while furnished versions commonly reach COP 2–3.5 million. For two-bedrooms, the typical range moves from roughly COP 2.2–3.8 million unfurnished to COP 3–5 million furnished.

The gap becomes wider on English-language websites and with rentals designed for stays of a few weeks or months. Those prices often include furniture, utilities, internet, cleaning and the ability to rent without the guarantor and paperwork commonly requested in a traditional Colombian lease.

Some rental specialists estimate conventional unfurnished contracts at 20–40% below furnished mid-term equivalents. Tourist-oriented apartments can stretch much further above that.

Location adds another layer. The small area around Primer Parque, Segundo Parque, Avenida Nutibara and the restaurant-heavy streets attracts much more foreign and furnished demand than the wider Laureles-Estadio district. Carrera 70 has its own tourism premium, while older properties toward Estadio, Suramericana, La América and the western edges can cost considerably less.

That is why two people can both search for “Laureles” and come away with completely different ideas of what the neighborhood costs.

The cheapest strategy these days often involves changing the search itself: conventional lease, older building, unfurnished apartment and a few blocks away from the small zone most heavily marketed to foreigners.

Has the strong Colombian peso made Laureles more expensive in dollars?

Yes. The stronger peso has made Laureles roughly one-third more expensive for a dollar earner even before we account for any increase in the rent itself.

The Banco de la República’s current representative exchange rate is around COP 3,203 per dollar. Colombia’s average exchange rate in 2023 was roughly COP 4,330.

Take a COP 3 million monthly rent. At COP 4,330 per dollar, it costs about $693. At COP 3,203, the same rent costs approximately $937.

That works out to an increase of about 35% for someone earning dollars, with zero change in the peso-denominated rent.

Foreigners returning to Laureles after a few years can therefore experience a much stronger price shock than local rent statistics alone suggest. Actual rents rose, while each peso also became more expensive in dollar terms.

The two effects compound each other. A property that went from COP 2.5 million to COP 3 million became 20% more expensive locally. Once the stronger peso is added, the increase felt by a dollar earner becomes dramatically larger.

Is buying an apartment in Laureles getting too expensive too?

Yes. Laureles purchase prices have climbed sharply, although ordinary used apartments still make much more sense than some new developments.

The Lonja’s earlier residential study put typical Laureles sale prices around COP 4.6–5.6 million per m² depending on apartment size. Its later study reported roughly COP 6.4–7.2 million per m². Across several common apartment sizes, that means increases of about 29–41%.

Current inventories remain around that range for conventional resale apartments. ElBroker’s Laureles sample averages approximately COP 7.08 million per m². A smaller live Auge Urbano inventory recently produced a median close to COP 5.9 million. A Laureles specialist reviewing 2025 comparable properties calculated an average near COP 6.35 million per m² and also noted that final negotiated prices can come below asking prices.

A 90 m² used apartment at COP 6.5–7 million per m² therefore costs roughly COP 585–630 million before transaction costs.

That is a high entry price in Colombian income terms. Yet the comparison with El Poblado remains favorable, and good older Laureles apartments still contain much more space per peso than many new projects.

Are new Laureles micro-apartments overpriced?

In many cases, yes. Tiny new apartments currently look like the most aggressively priced part of the Laureles property market.

Zonario tracks nine new residential projects in Laureles and calculates an average advertised price around COP 15.7 million per m². The average unit is only about 27 m².

Compare that with roughly COP 6–7 million per m² for much of the conventional used market. New micro-units can therefore cost more than twice as much per square meter.

Part of the gap is normal. Small apartments cost more per square meter because kitchens and bathrooms take up a larger proportion of construction costs. Buyers also pay for new finishes, amenities and the developer’s margin.

But the premium here is hard to brush aside. A 27 m² apartment at COP 15.7 million per m² comes to roughly COP 424 million. For similar money, the resale market can provide far more usable space.

At those prices, the investment case depends heavily on renters continuing to pay a large premium for compact furnished accommodation. That gives the owner much less room for error if tourism demand weakens, regulation tightens or tenants become more price-sensitive.

A good older apartment around COP 6–7 million per m² can still be defended on Laureles’ long-term location and livability. Paying COP 15 million or more per m² for 25–30 m² requires a much more aggressive view of future rents.

Do Laureles rental yields still justify today’s purchase prices?

Sometimes. Conventional Laureles apartments can still produce gross rental yields around 6–7%, but today’s financing costs and high entry prices leave much less easy upside.

Using the Lonja’s average rents and sale prices gives us a useful baseline. A 50–70 m² apartment priced around COP 7.18 million per m² and rented around COP 39,265 per m² produces an annual gross rent equal to roughly 6.6% of its purchase price.

The 70–90 m² segment comes out around 6.9%, while 90–110 m² apartments produce about 6.7%.

Those figures are before administration fees, property tax, repairs, vacancy, insurance, management and transaction costs. Net yields come out lower.

Financing makes the equation tougher. Banco de la República’s policy rate currently sits at 12%, so a leveraged investor cannot assume that a 6–7% gross property yield automatically produces attractive cash flow.

Cash buyers may still accept these numbers because they value long-term appreciation and Laureles’ scarcity. Buyers paying very high prices for new micro-apartments have a harder job. They need stronger rents, high occupancy or continued appreciation to compensate for the entry premium.

Is Laureles demand finally cooling as prices rise?

Not clearly. Laureles still attracts heavy demand, although overpriced listings now have much more competition for the renter’s money.

Current portals continue to show deep inventory and strong interest. Metrocuadrado recorded more than 220,000 Laureles searches during the first ten months of 2025, the highest total for any Medellín neighborhood on the platform.

Tourism also remains elevated. Medellín reported more than 2 million non-resident passenger arrivals through José María Córdova during 2025, while international visitor volumes remain far above their pre-boom levels.

Still, the price ceiling is becoming easier to see. Once an ordinary Laureles apartment reaches COP 4–5 million, renters start comparing it with Envigado, parts of El Poblado, Belén or much cheaper neighborhoods such as La América. Foreigners also face the stronger peso, which makes every quoted Colombian rent hurt more in dollar terms.

Owners can no longer rely as easily on the idea that any apartment carrying a Laureles address deserves a tourism-style price. Better properties in the best streets can still command a large premium. Average apartments priced as if they were premium furnished products face a much tougher comparison.

For now, we see price resistance rather than a broad drop in demand.

Is Laureles still good value today?

Sometimes. Laureles still offers good value against El Poblado, but the answer becomes much weaker when we compare it with Medellín as a whole.

The neighborhood offers a combination that remains unusually hard to replicate: flat streets, mature trees, parks, restaurants, supermarkets, universities, sports facilities and central access. Much of El Poblado is hillier and more car-dependent, while cheaper western neighborhoods generally offer fewer of those amenities in one compact area.

Medellín’s 2025 quality-of-life index ranked Laureles-Estadio second among the city’s comunas, behind El Poblado. Some housing premium therefore makes sense.

Price decides whether that premium remains reasonable.

A good conventional apartment around COP 2.5–3 million per month can still look attractive for someone who specifically values walkability and central location. At COP 5–6 million for an ordinary two-bedroom, that argument becomes much harder to make.

The same distinction appears in the purchase market. A good older property around COP 6–7 million per m² still gives buyers a defensible combination of space and location. A tiny project at COP 15 million-plus per m² asks the buyer to pay today for a great deal of future rental demand.

Laureles still contains good deals. Finding them now requires much more selectivity.

So, is Laureles getting too expensive?

Yes, Laureles is getting too expensive in several important parts of the market, and for many locally paid renters it has already crossed that line.

The strongest evidence comes from the scale of the repricing. Laureles rents across common apartment sizes jumped roughly 70–90% between successive Lonja market studies. As seen above, current two-bedroom rents cluster around COP 3 million and frequently move far higher in the furnished segment. That already exceeds the entire monthly income of many individual workers in Antioquia.

Foreign renters also face a separate problem. At today’s exchange rate, a COP 3 million apartment costs roughly $940, compared with about $690 at Colombia’s 2023 average exchange rate. The neighborhood became more expensive in pesos while the peso itself became much more expensive for anyone earning dollars.

Buyers have experienced the same repricing. Conventional resale apartments now commonly sit around COP 6–7 million per m², and some new micro-apartment projects ask more than COP 15 million per m². Those tiny new units are where we see the clearest signs of prices running ahead of ordinary residential value.

There are still important limits to the “too expensive” argument. Laureles remains materially cheaper than El Poblado, conventional unfurnished leases cost far less than the rentals marketed to foreigners, and older resale apartments can still make sense at the right price.

Our conclusion is fairly sharp: Laureles has already lost its status as a cheap Medellín neighborhood. Good value still exists, especially in older buildings and away from the most internationalized streets, but buyers and renters now have to find it rather than assume the neighborhood provides it automatically.

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