Is Airbnb still worth it in Medellín?

Why is Airbnb in Medellín a harder investment now?

Airbnb in Medellín can still make good money, but buying almost any decent apartment and expecting tourism growth to do the rest is no longer a serious investment strategy.

The change is easiest to see in the supply numbers. In its early-2026 data, Airbtics counted about 12,860 active short-term-rental listings in Medellín, 26.1% more than a year earlier and 114.7% more than three years earlier. Median revenue, meanwhile, was around $12,000 a year, only 5.3% higher than three years earlier.

Newer data adds a second warning. AirDNA, with data through September 2026, still shows 63% occupancy, but the average nightly rate fell 16.4% in a year, to about $72. Hosts are keeping calendars full by charging less.

Medellín has added Airbnb supply at a completely different speed from the growth in revenue available to each listing. Demand has absorbed far more of that new inventory than we might have expected, which is encouraging, but the days of entering a lightly supplied tourism market are gone.

There are two other changes investors have to take seriously. Residential rents have become much more attractive: La Lonja measured 2025 rent increases of 7.5% in El Poblado and 7.1% in Laureles. Medellín is also checking tourist apartments much harder: 408 inspections between 2024 and September 2026 ended in 105 temporary suspensions.

The investment question has become much more property-specific. A good Medellín Airbnb can work very well. A mediocre one can now lose to an ordinary long-term rental surprisingly quickly.

Medellín Airbnb indicator	Latest useful level	Recent change	What we learn
Active listings (Airbtics, early 2026)	~12,860	+114.7% in 3 years	Competition has more than doubled
Median annual revenue (Airbtics, early 2026)	~$12,000	+5.3% in 3 years	Revenue has barely followed supply
Average nightly rate (AirDNA, to Sept 2026)	~$72	−16.4% in 1 year	Nights are being filled with discounts
Registered tourist homes occupancy (city survey)	50.5% in H1 2026	52.2% in H1 2025	Demand is holding up, not growing
El Poblado residential rents	—	+7.5% in 2025	Long-term renting is a stronger alternative
Laureles residential rents	—	+7.1% in 2025	The Airbnb premium has to work harder

Are tourists still coming to Medellín in big enough numbers?

Yes, but the growth of 2025 has flattened in 2026. Visitor numbers are high, while occupancy in both hotels and tourist homes slipped in the first half of the year.

Medellín received 954,600 tourists during the first half of 2025, according to the city's tourism authorities, up 12.4% from the previous year. Around 546,000 were international visitors, an 11.8% increase. The United States alone accounted for roughly 32% of Medellín's international tourism.

Airport data show the scale. José María Córdova International Airport recorded more than 2 million arrivals by Colombian and foreign non-residents during 2025, and 1,003,756 international passenger arrivals in the first half of 2026, the first time a half-year passed one million.

The 2026 detail is less rosy. Visitors from the United States, the biggest market, were flat at 194,488 (−0.7%), and June international arrivals were 4.6% below June 2025. Hotel occupancy averaged 59.0% in the first half of 2026, 6.6 points lower than a year earlier, and the city's survey of tourist homes found 50.5% occupancy against 52.2%.

Medellín is also keeping more of those arrivals in the region. The city reported that 73% of travelers entering through José María Córdova stayed in Antioquia in 2025, compared with 68% in 2023.

Large events add another layer of demand. International passenger arrivals during Feria de las Flores increased from 51,558 in 2024 to 65,581 in 2025, a rise of 27.2%.

None of this guarantees that an individual Airbnb will work. What it tells us is that Medellín's Airbnb problem comes from competition and pricing rather than a shortage of visitors, but you should no longer count on demand growing every year.

Tourism indicator	Earlier figure	Recent figure	Change
First-half tourists	~849,000 (H1 2024, implied)	954,600 (H1 2025)	+12.4%
First-half foreign tourists	~488,000 (H1 2024, implied)	546,000 (H1 2025)	+11.8%
International airport arrivals, first half	—	1,003,756 (H1 2026)	First time above 1 million
US visitors, first half	—	194,488 (H1 2026)	−0.7%
Hotel occupancy, first half	~65.6% (H1 2025)	59.0% (H1 2026)	−6.6 points
Tourist-home occupancy, first half	52.2% (H1 2025)	50.5% (H1 2026)	−1.7 points
Feria international arrivals	51,558 (2024)	65,581 (2025)	+27.2%
Travelers staying in Antioquia	68% in 2023	73% in 2025	+5 points

Has Medellín built too many Airbnbs?

Medellín probably has too many Airbnbs for average hosts to keep getting easy growth, although the market has not reached the kind of oversupply that destroys occupancy.

Almost 2,900 new listings were added in Medellín during 2025 alone according to Airbtics. That was the second-largest absolute increase among the Colombian markets it analyzed, behind Bogotá.

The more striking number is the three-year increase. Active supply rose 114.7%. Occupancy over the same period slipped only about three percentage points, to around 63% in Airbtics' early-2026 data.

That combination is unusual. More than doubling supply without crushing occupancy means Medellín found a remarkable amount of new demand.

Hosts should still be cautious about what this says about future returns. When thousands of additional apartments compete for the same guests, owners increasingly have to win on apartment quality, location, reviews, amenities, pricing and operating skill. A listing that looks interchangeable with fifty nearby apartments has very little protection.

Professional operators already show how wide the performance gap can become. Airbtics tracks large Medellín hosts managing dozens or even more than 100 listings, while individual portfolios show radically different occupancy and revenue despite operating in the same city.

Medellín Airbnb is becoming harder for average properties rather than becoming unviable as a whole.

Why do Airbnb data sites disagree so much about Medellín?

Because each one counts differently, and in 2026 they even point in opposite directions. AirDNA's data through September 2026 shows 14,957 active listings, down 37.5% in a year. AirROI shows 14,169 listings over October 2025 to September 2026, up 41%. Airbtics had about 12,860 in early 2026, up 26.1%.

The 37.5% fall is mostly a counting story: AirDNA's active-listing count moves with its own methodology. It is not proof that hosts quit, and Medellín has no ban. The city's own register is more telling: 8,322 tourist homes had an RNT in 2026, against roughly 14,000 to 15,000 listings on the data sites. Even allowing for rooms and duplicate listings, a large part of the market seems to run without full registration.

Occupancy and prices split the same way. AirDNA puts occupancy at 63% of open nights and nightly rates down 16.4%; BNBCalc shows rates up 9% in its own peso series; AirROI has occupancy at 40.9%; the city's survey of registered tourist homes found 50.5% in the first half of 2026.

What to do with this: pick one platform and compare the same period, never mix them. Underwrite at around 50%, the city's figure, and ask the seller for 12 months of Airbnb payout statements rather than dashboard screenshots.

Source	Listings	1-year change	Occupancy	Period
AirDNA	14,957	−37.5%	63%	To Sept 2026
AirROI	14,169	+41%	40.9%	Oct 2025–Sept 2026
Airbtics	~12,860	+26.1%	~63%	Early 2026
City survey (registered homes)	8,322 with an RNT	—	50.5%	H1 2026

Are Medellín Airbnb hosts actually earning more money?

Medellín Airbnb revenue rose in 2025, but the average host has captured only a small fraction of the city's huge growth in listings and tourism.

Airbtics estimated median annual revenue of roughly $12,000 in its early-2026 Medellín data, 10.2% above the previous year. Its full-year 2025 analysis produced a similar figure of about $11,750.

AirDNA's newer figure, through September 2026, is about $15,500 a year per active listing. It comes from a different method, so it doesn't mean hosts suddenly earned 30% more.

La Lonja gives us a useful cross-check from a completely different dataset. It counted about 14,000 short-term-rental properties across the Valle de Aburrá during 2025, generating approximately COP 76 billion a month at 66% average occupancy.

Dividing that revenue across the 14,000 properties gives roughly COP 5.4 million per property per month. That calculation is only a broad average, but it puts the size of the market into perspective.

The spread between properties is much more interesting than the average. Some professional Medellín portfolios tracked by Airbtics operate around market-level revenue, while others generate several times the city average. The property, location and operator increasingly determine the result.

As seen above, supply has more than doubled in three years while median annual revenue has barely moved over the same period. That is probably the clearest evidence that the Medellín Airbnb boom has become much more competitive.

Is 63% Airbnb occupancy in Medellín actually good?

Yes, if it holds, but treat it as the top of the range. AirDNA's 63% (data through September 2026) is the booked share of nights that listings are open; other measures come out lower.

At 63%, a listing open all year is booked about 230 nights. The city's survey of registered tourist homes found 50.5% in the first half of 2026, about 184 nights. AirROI, which counts differently, has Medellín at 40.9%, still well above its 33% for Colombia as a whole.

El Poblado performs better, at roughly 67% in Airbtics' early-2026 neighborhood data against 63% for the city on the same data. Hotels tell a similar story: 60.7% in El Poblado and 61.4% in Laureles in the first half of 2026, against 29.5% in the Centro.

The impressive part is that Medellín maintained occupancy around these levels while adding thousands of listings. We would have expected a much sharper fall if supply had genuinely overwhelmed demand.

But occupancy alone can fool investors. A host can defend bookings by lowering the nightly rate. Someone earning $80 a night at 55% occupancy can easily outperform someone earning $50 at 70%. AirDNA's 16.4% drop in nightly rates over the past year is exactly this: occupancy defended with discounts.

Medellín passes the demand test. For your own numbers, we would underwrite around 50%, the city's figure, and treat anything above it as upside.

Is El Poblado still the best place for Airbnb in Medellín?

El Poblado is still Medellín's strongest Airbnb neighborhood for revenue, but paying El Poblado prices can erase a surprising amount of that advantage.

Airbtics' early-2026 data put El Poblado occupancy at around 67%, compared with 63% across Medellín. The average daily rate was roughly $91, versus about $51 citywide, while estimated annual revenue reached $22,764.

Those are big differences. An El Poblado property can generate close to twice the annual revenue of a typical Medellín short-term rental.

The demand makes sense. Provenza, Parque Lleras and Manila concentrate restaurants, nightlife, accommodation and services used heavily by international visitors. Foreign travelers can book El Poblado without knowing Medellín particularly well, which gives the area an advantage that less famous neighborhoods have to earn.

Property prices already reflect that advantage. Used apartments in El Poblado were listed at a median of about COP 8.7 million per m² (~$2,750) in October 2026 (PropFound), and the median El Poblado apartment was listed at about COP 1.2 billion (~$376,000) on Aptologia, with big gaps between buildings and micro-locations.

There is also more scrutiny. In May 2026 the city ran targeted operations in El Poblado residential buildings after 71 coexistence complaints about apartments used for short stays, with 18 land-use verifications. It is also cross-checking information with Migración Colombia to identify potentially non-compliant stays of less than 30 days.

We would still choose El Poblado when the purchase price makes sense. We would not pay almost any price simply to own in Medellín's most obvious Airbnb neighborhood.

Metric	Medellín overall (Airbtics, early 2026)	El Poblado (Airbtics, early 2026)
Occupancy	~63%	~67%
Average daily rate	~$51	~$91
Estimated annual revenue	~$12,000	~$22,764
Active listings	~12,860	~2,787
Purchase prices	Lower overall	~COP 8.7m/m² for used flats (Oct 2026)

Is Laureles a better Airbnb buy than El Poblado?

Laureles can beat El Poblado for investors who care about the purchase price as much as Airbnb revenue, but we would only consider a unit there after checking the building rules very carefully.

Laureles has a different appeal from El Poblado. Visitors get restaurants, cafés, nightlife, walkability and easy access to central Medellín without being surrounded by quite the same concentration of international tourism.

The residential market is also extremely deep. Fincaraíz ranked Laureles as Medellín's most searched neighborhood during 2025, ahead of El Poblado and Belén. That gives an investor several possible exits: short stays, medium-term tenants, conventional tenants or resale to people who actually want to live there.

Acquisition costs are lower too. PropFound's October 2026 resale listings put Laureles-Estadio at about COP 6.7 million per m² (~$2,100) against about COP 8.7 million in El Poblado, roughly 23% cheaper, although the gap changes a lot from one building to another. Long-term rents follow: a 2-bed asks a median COP 3.0 million a month in Laureles against COP 5.2 million in El Poblado (ClickCasa, October 2026).

The uncomfortable part is regulation. Laureles is largely quiet residential streets, and tourist housing has never been allowed in low-mix residential zones under the POT. The city also focuses its tourist-housing work on comunas 11 (Laureles) and 14 (El Poblado). Check the zoning of the exact parcel, not just the neighborhood name. The Metro de la 80, whose depot works started on 28 September 2026 in western Medellín, could also bring new transit zones where the draft POT would allow tourist housing.

So we would never treat Laureles as the quieter neighborhood where enforcement does not matter. Its attraction comes from a better mix of tourism demand and ordinary residential demand.

That combination can make Laureles a better investment than El Poblado, especially when the Airbnb business is legally allowed and the entry price is substantially lower.

Does Airbnb still beat a normal long-term rental in Medellín?

Sometimes, but the gap is much smaller than many Medellín Airbnb investment pitches make it sound.

Airbtics estimated a 12.3% gross short-term-rental yield for Medellín in early 2026. Asking-price and asking-rent data from Fincaraíz's 2025 annual report imply gross long-term residential yields that can already reach the high single digits in several upper-income segments.

For example, its data put estrato 6 apartments around COP 7.04 million per square meter for sale and COP 56,805 per square meter in monthly advertised rent. Annualizing those figures produces a rough gross yield close to 9.7%.

Estrato 5 comes out around 9.3%, while estrato 4 is closer to 8.7%.

These are asking-market calculations rather than realized portfolio returns, so they are not perfectly comparable with Airbtics' modeled Airbnb yield. The useful finding is the size of the gap. Gross Airbnb returns can sit only a few percentage points above ordinary residential rent before any extra short-term-rental costs are paid.

Today's listings make the gap even smaller. A Laureles 2-bed rents for a median COP 3.0 million a month (ClickCasa, October 2026). At about COP 500 million (~$157,000) for 75 m² at Laureles' median price per m², that is a 7.2% gross yield. AirROI's average 2-bed short-term rental in Medellín grossed COP 42.4 million (~$13,500) over the 12 months to September 2026: 8.5% on the same price, and only about 18% more than the long lease.

That changes the decision completely.

Long-term tenants require far less turnover, guest communication, pricing work, furnishing replacement and daily operating attention. Medellín residential rents also rose 6.5% on average during 2025 according to La Lonja, with stronger increases in El Poblado and Laureles. For existing leases, the yearly increase is capped at the previous year's inflation: 5.10% in 2026, and likely above 6% in 2027 with inflation at 6.29% in September 2026.

An Airbnb earning 30% or 40% more gross revenue than a conventional rental can still be compelling. If the advantage is closer to 10% or 15%, we would usually prefer the simpler rental unless the owner has another reason to keep the property available.

Residential segment (Fincaraíz, 2025)	Sale asking price / m²	Monthly rent / m²	Rough gross annual yield
Estrato 4 apartment	COP 5.41m	COP 39,060	~8.7%
Estrato 5 apartment	COP 5.93m	COP 45,990	~9.3%
Estrato 6 apartment	COP 7.04m	COP 56,805	~9.7%
Medellín short-term rental benchmark (Airbtics, early 2026)	—	—	~12.3% modeled gross

What does a Medellín Airbnb really earn after costs and tax?

Less than a long lease, in our example. We took a 75 m² 2-bed in Laureles at about COP 500 million (~$157,000), AirROI's average 2-bed revenue for Medellín (COP 42.4 million a year) and the area's median 2-bed rent (COP 3.0 million a month).

For the Airbnb, we deducted AirROI's modeled running costs for an owner-run listing (platform fees, cleaning, utilities, supplies, repairs, insurance and permits: about COP 11.5 million), a 10% co-host fee, and our assumptions of COP 400,000 a month of administración and COP 2.5 million a year of predial. Check the real bills: building fees rose 17.14% in a year nationally (DANE, September 2026).

A non-resident owner then pays 35% tax on Colombian net rental income. The Airbnb ends at about 2.5% net, the long lease at about 2.9%, and that's before furnishing the Airbnb.

The strong peso adds a currency layer. The dollar closed 2025 at COP 3,757 and is about COP 3,190 now, so the same COP 500 million flat costs about $157,000 instead of about $133,000 in January: 18% more with no local price change. Forecasts for the peso disagree, so don't count on a rebound.

Laureles 2-bed, COP 500 million (COP million/year)	Airbnb	Long lease
Gross revenue	42.4 (8.5%)	36.0 (7.2%)
Running costs (AirROI model) / one month vacancy	−11.5	−3.0
Co-host 10% / letting agent 10%	−4.2	−3.3
Administración (assumed COP 400,000/month)	−4.8	−4.8
Predial (assumed)	−2.5	−2.5
Net before income tax	19.3 (3.9%)	22.4 (4.5%)
After 35% non-resident tax	12.6 (2.5%, ~$3,950)	14.6 (2.9%, ~$4,550)

Can you legally Airbnb any apartment in Medellín?

No. Buying an apartment in Medellín does not automatically give the owner the right to rent it to tourists for stays under 30 days.

The city's Q&A on tourist housing of 13 October 2026 makes the requirements unusually clear.

A tourist accommodation operator needs a Registro Nacional de Turismo, commonly called the RNT: one per unit, obtained through the Cámara de Comercio and renewed every year by 31 March. Platforms must ask for it before publishing a listing. But having an RNT alone does not settle the issue.

When the apartment belongs to a building governed by propiedad horizontal, the building's rules must expressly allow tourist accommodation. If they do not, the owner cannot simply rely on the fact that other units are already appearing on Airbnb.

Land use also matters. Under the current POT (Acuerdo 48 of 2014), tourist housing has never been allowed in low-mix residential zones, and the property also needs a building licence compatible with lodging.

Operators also need a RUT and commercial registration, a fire-safety certificate and a sanitary approval, must register every guest daily, and must report foreign guests to Migración Colombia in real time (SIRE). Fines can reach 2,000 minimum wages (about COP 3.5 billion), on top of sealing and RNT cancellation.

The latest city guidance is particularly useful because Medellín is still describing short-term rentals as a growing source of income for property owners. The city is not telling legal operators to leave the market. It is drawing a much clearer line between authorized tourist housing and apartments that happen to be taking bookings without the full legal structure behind them.

We would therefore check Airbnb legality before negotiating the purchase price, not after buying.

Check before buying	Why it matters
Registro Nacional de Turismo	Required for formal tourist accommodation
Propiedad horizontal rules	The building must allow the activity
Land-use compatibility	Tourist accommodation must fit local planning rules
Construction authorization	The approved property use has to match the activity
Tax and commercial registration	The operator enters Colombia's formal tourism economy
Foreign-guest reporting	Applicable stays create immigration reporting duties

Is Medellín really cracking down on illegal Airbnbs?

Yes. Medellín is currently checking illegal short-term rentals much more seriously, and the latest city policy suggests those controls will become more systematic rather than disappear.

Between 2024 and September 2026, the city carried out 408 tourist-housing inspections and ordered 105 temporary suspensions, about one in four (Alcaldía, 25 September 2026). These were targeted checks, not a random sample, so 26% is not the share of illegal Airbnbs in the city.

The checks follow the complaints. In May 2026, after 71 coexistence complaints, the city ran operations in El Poblado residential buildings, with 18 land-use verifications.

Medellín authorities have also said they are cross-checking data with Migración Colombia to identify properties hosting foreigners and possible stays under 30 days that may not comply with the rules.

More recently, the city introduced a 2026–2030 tourism-security plan that specifically calls for more inter-agency inspections, better monitoring and greater use of data.

An investor does not need to believe Medellín will ban Airbnb. The more realistic danger is buying a property that already fails rules the city is getting better at enforcing.

What does Medellín's POT revision mean for Airbnb owners?

It decides where new tourist housing can go; it doesn't ban Airbnb. In September 2026 the city filed a draft revision of its land-use plan (POT) with the Concejo. New tourist housing would go to high-mix zones and corridors, plus some transit zones around Metro stations and near universities. It is still a draft.

Low-mix residential zones are the key point. Tourist housing has never been allowed there since 2014, so units operating there already break the current rule. Tourist homes legally set up and meeting the rules can keep operating.

The draft doesn't cap supply. The city counted 8,322 registered tourist homes and simulated 16,232 lots that could take up to 179,521 new ones, about 20 times today's figure. Competition can keep growing in the right zones.

Before you pay an Airbnb premium, ask for the land-use certificate of the exact parcel, the building licence, the clause of the reglamento that allows tourist use and the active RNT. A unit in a low-mix zone is worth its residential value, not more.

Zone	Tourist housing
Low-mix residential zones	Not allowed (since 2014)
Medium-mix zones	Stricter limits proposed
High-mix zones and corridors	Allowed, if building rules and licence fit
Transit zones (DOT) around Metro stations, university areas	Allowed under the September 2026 draft

Can the apartment building itself kill a Medellín Airbnb deal?

Absolutely. In Medellín, the building rules can be more important to an Airbnb investment than the apartment's renovation, view or furniture.

Colombia's propiedad horizontal system gives apartment buildings a formal set of permitted uses and rules. Medellín's October 2026 guidance states that tourist accommodation in these buildings has to be expressly allowed. Changing the bylaws needs owners holding 70% of the building's coefficients (Ley 675, article 46), so don't buy on a promise that the assembly will vote it.

This creates a big difference between apartments that look almost identical.

One tower may have been structured from the beginning for short-term accommodation, with suitable rules, guest-access systems and management. The neighboring tower may have been approved as a normal residential building where owners expect permanent neighbors rather than a constant flow of tourists.

Purpose-built Airbnb projects solve part of that problem. They generally reduce the risk of conflicts with residents and make short-stay operations easier.

But there is a trap here too. Developers know investors will pay more for a building where Airbnb is explicitly allowed.

If a normal residential apartment is worth COP 400 million and an Airbnb-friendly equivalent costs COP 500 million, the extra COP 100 million has to generate its own return. Many buyers focus on the higher nightly income and forget that they paid for the privilege upfront.

Buildings full of investor-owned short-term rentals can also become vulnerable at resale. If Airbnb economics weaken, several similar units may hit the market at once. And since the M7.4 earthquake of 10 August 2026, which led Antioquia to declare a public calamity, ask the administración for the building's structural records too.

We would pay something extra for verified Airbnb permission. We would not pay an unlimited premium for it.

Does financing a Medellín Airbnb still make sense?

Financing a Medellín Airbnb with expensive Colombian debt currently makes the deal much harder to justify.

Banco de la República raised its policy rate to 12.25% from 1 October 2026; it was 9.25% at the start of the year. Peso mortgages averaged 15.02% a year across 11 major lenders in September 2026, and most non-resident foreigners can't get one anyway: Bancolombia's loans from abroad are for Colombians abroad or foreigners with Colombian family ties, at 16% for non-VIS homes and 70% of the price at most.

Compare that with the asset being financed. In our Laureles example, the Airbnb grosses about 8.5% and the long lease 7.2%, and both net under 3% after costs and tax.

Borrowing at nearly twice the property's gross yield loses money every month.

The maths becomes particularly unforgiving for Airbnb because gross revenue still has to cover management, platform fees, furnishing, utilities, repairs, vacancies and other expenses before the owner receives the remaining cash.

A cash buyer can accept a 7% to 9% gross yield and decide whether the net return is attractive enough.

A heavily financed buyer faces a different investment entirely.

We would currently be much more interested in Medellín Airbnb as a cash or low-cost-financing purchase than as a highly leveraged local-mortgage strategy.

What happens if Medellín makes Airbnb rules even stricter?

The safest Medellín Airbnb today is an apartment that would still be worth owning if short-term-rental rules became stricter.

Medellín has good reasons to keep legal tourist accommodation. The airport took more than one million international arrivals in the first half of 2026 alone, 8,322 tourist homes are registered, and La Lonja estimates short-term rentals generated roughly COP 76 billion per month across the Valle de Aburrá during 2025.

At the same time, local authorities are dealing with housing pressure, complaints from residential buildings, security concerns and illegal tourist accommodation. Those issues give the city strong reasons to keep tightening enforcement.

The 2026–2030 tourism-security plan and the September 2026 draft POT both point the same way. Medellín is building monitoring, inspections and zoning limits into its policy rather than treating enforcement as a temporary campaign.

That favors apartments with several possible uses.

A two-bedroom property in Laureles or a well-connected part of El Poblado may work as Airbnb today, a furnished monthly rental tomorrow and a normal residential lease later. There will also be local and foreign buyers interested in living there.

A tiny unit designed almost exclusively for weekend tourists has fewer options.

We therefore give a substantial premium to fallback value. The property should make sense as Medellín real estate first and as an Airbnb second.

What kind of Airbnb still makes money in Medellín today?

The Medellín Airbnbs we would buy today are legally authorized, bought at a sensible price and clearly better than the mass of interchangeable apartments now competing for guests.

The first requirement is documentation. The building has to allow short-term tourist accommodation, and the property must comply with the other registration, land-use and licensing rules.

The second is the purchase price. Occupancy between 50.5% (the city's survey) and 63% (AirDNA) is enough to build a viable business, but we would not underwrite a deal that needs 75% or 80% occupancy every year to work.

The third is micro-location. El Poblado remains the obvious high-revenue market, especially around the areas tourists already know. Laureles can offer a more interesting relationship between acquisition price, visitor demand and residential fallback value. Envigado deserves consideration too: Airbtics' early-2026 data estimated about 61% occupancy and roughly $10,876 of annual revenue there, close to Medellín's citywide median of about $12,000 on the same data, despite a different tourism profile.

The fourth is differentiation. With roughly 15,000 Medellín listings on AirDNA's count, clean furniture and a decent bed are no longer enough. Quiet bedrooms, useful workspaces, reliable internet, kitchens people can actually use, good building amenities, views, balconies and genuinely convenient locations can all change pricing power.

Longer stays are worth thinking about too. Medellín attracts remote workers, business visitors, medical travelers and foreigners spending several weeks in the city. An apartment that works for both three-night tourists and one-month guests has more ways to fill the calendar.

Property type	Our view today	Why
Legal Airbnb in strong micro-location	Attractive	Strong demand plus lower regulatory risk
Generic unit bought at a high price	Weak	Too easy for competitors to replace
Laureles unit with legal STR use	Attractive at the right price	Tourism plus strong residential fallback
El Poblado unit with extreme Airbnb premium	Risky	Revenue can be high but entry price absorbs it
Apartment needing 75%–80% occupancy	Avoid	The market runs at about 50%–63%
Property that also works long term	Strongest setup	Gives the owner a real fallback

Is Medellín Airbnb becoming too professional for a small investor?

Medellín Airbnb is getting much more professional, but a small investor can still compete with one very good property.

The scale of the market explains why. La Lonja counted roughly 14,000 short-term rentals across the Valle de Aburrá generating around COP 76 billion every month during 2025. This has grown into a real hospitality industry.

Airbtics tracks Medellín operators managing portfolios ranging from dozens of apartments to more than 100 units. Those businesses can spread software, cleaners, maintenance staff, photography, guest support and pricing systems across many properties.

Small owners cannot match that operating scale.

They can still compete on the actual product. One apartment with a great location, sensible pricing, strong reviews and thoughtful amenities can outperform a poorly run portfolio property.

What becomes harder is casual hosting. An investor living abroad, using generic furniture, replying slowly to guests and leaving nightly prices unchanged for weeks is now competing with operators who manage occupancy and pricing every day.

For somebody wanting an almost completely passive property investment, this pushes Medellín Airbnb down the list.

For somebody willing to hire a strong operator or manage the unit properly, the market remains very viable.

So, is Airbnb still worth it in Medellín?

Yes, but only the good deals. Airbnb in Medellín is still worth buying today when the property is fully legal, the purchase price is reasonable and the expected Airbnb revenue beats a normal rental by enough to pay for the extra work and costs.

The tourism side remains strong. José María Córdova passed one million international arrivals in the first half of 2026 for the first time, and AirDNA still shows 63% occupancy through September 2026, even if hotels and registered tourist homes filled fewer nights than a year earlier.

The market has also proved remarkably capable of absorbing new accommodation.

However, the investment itself has become less forgiving. Medellín added about 2,890 short-term-rental listings in 2025 and active supply has more than doubled in three years, while nightly rates fell 16.4% in the past year. Ordinary residential rents keep rising. El Poblado flats list at about COP 8.7 million per m². Mortgages cost about 15%. And after costs and the 35% non-resident tax, our Laureles example nets about 2.5% as an Airbnb against 2.9% as a long lease.

Regulation has become harder to ignore too. Medellín ordered 105 temporary suspensions after 408 inspections, is cross-checking guest data with Migración Colombia, and its September 2026 draft POT limits new tourist housing to high-mix zones and some transit corridors.

Put all of that together and we get a fairly sharp answer.

We would still buy a Medellín Airbnb if the unit were legally authorized, bought close to its underlying residential value, capable of performing around realistic market occupancy and attractive enough to compete without constant discounting. We would particularly like properties that could switch to medium- or long-term tenants if Airbnb stopped making sense.

We would pass on an expensive “Airbnb investment” sold mainly on projected nightly revenue, especially when the buyer is paying a large premium for the building, financing the purchase at high rates or relying on optimistic occupancy.

Medellín itself remains a very good short-term-rental market.

The easy Airbnb investment is what has disappeared.