Summary
Not that anyone can show: no index tracks Roatán rents, and the best 2026 benchmark still puts a West End 2-bedroom at $700 to $1,200 a month (about L 18,800 to L 32,200) on a long lease. With island property sales down 26% in the first half of 2026, landlords have little room to push.
A West End studio or 1-bedroom leases for $350 to $700 a month and a Sandy Bay 1-bedroom for $500 to $650, according to a May 2026 poll of residents. Beachfront adds roughly 30% to 50%.
Measured by size, a West End 2-bedroom works out at about $6 to $10 per m² a month, below the $11 per m² most Tegucigalpa listings ask. You pay for the island, not for the space.
Roatán rents are set in dollars, so they still cost local tenants about 2% more in lempiras this year with no increase at all, while inflation reached 6.28% in September 2026.
West Bay is the priciest area: its short-term rentals average L 9,127 a night (about $340), twice West End's L 4,511. Retirees and families who want space go to Sandy Bay and French Harbour, where a comfortable 2-bedroom runs $750 to $1,500.
Tenants are divers, retirees, remote workers and island staff. Most want a furnished unit with A/C and good internet, and leases usually run 3 to 12 months with one month's deposit.
No one publishes a vacancy rate. The closest number: short-term rentals filled 32% of nights in the year to September 2026, from 53.1% in February down to 24.5% in November.
A long lease pays little at today's prices: a $315,000 West End 2-bedroom rented at $700 to $1,200 grosses 2.7% to 4.6%, and keeps about 0.4% to 1.8% after a non-resident's 25% tax, condo fees, property tax and one empty month.
Airbnb looks better on paper: the average Roatán 2-bedroom grossed L 466,000 (about $17,350) in the year to September 2026, but about $12,400 is left after sales tax, tourism tax, a co-host and utilities, before cleaning and condo fees.
A landlord cannot raise the rent on his own under the Ley de Inquilinato: write the yearly increase into the lease, and remember tenants can leave with 60 days' notice.
A condo landlord pays about $400 to $620 a month in fixed costs: condo fees of $300 to $500, about $63 of property tax on a $300,000 unit, internet and water. Tenants pay power, at L 6.11 per kWh up to 150 kWh and L 8.95 above.
Rent is taxed at 10% for residents once it passes L 15,000 a month, and at 25% withheld for non-residents, which is the rate most foreign owners pay.
Bottom line: as a tenant, negotiate, because the market is soft; as a buyer, don't count on rent growth to fix a thin yield, and buy only at a price that works with today's $700 to $1,200 rents.
What studios, 1-beds and 2-beds lease for on Roatán in 2026
Roatán rents are quoted in US dollars, and almost everything on offer is furnished. The figures below are long-term leases of six months or more, not holiday rates.
Short stays of under six months usually cost 2 to 3 times the long-term monthly rate, so a "monthly" price on a holiday site is not what a yearly tenant pays.
West Bay and West End sit at the top because tenants pay for the beach and for walking to restaurants and dive shops. French Harbour, Coxen Hole and inland Sandy Bay are cheaper and more local.
What's the average monthly rent for a studio in Roatán?
Nobody publishes an average, but residents put a West End studio at $350 to $700 a month (about L 9,400 to L 18,800) and a Sandy Bay studio at $400 to $500 (about L 10,750 to L 13,400), in a May 2026 poll by GoPro Caribbean.
Waterfront 1-room condos in West End start from about $400 a month. A local rental agency says a small furnished apartment starts around $600 (about L 16,100), often with water and Wi-Fi included.
The spread comes down to the beach, the A/C and who pays the power bill: a cheap studio with electricity on top can end up costing more than a pricier one with utilities included.
What's the average monthly rent for a 1-bedroom in Roatán?
A 1-bedroom in West End leases for $350 to $700 a month (about L 9,400 to L 18,800), and one in Sandy Bay for $500 to $650 (about L 13,400 to L 17,450), according to GoPro Caribbean's May 2026 poll.
Numbeo, with only 16 entries from 2 contributors (last updated November 2025), shows a 1-bedroom at $850 (about L 22,800) in the busy areas and $550 (about L 14,750) outside them. Take it as a rough check, not a measure.
The cheapest 1-bedrooms are usually in French Harbour, Coxen Hole and Flowers Bay. The most expensive are in West Bay and on the water in West End.
What's the average monthly rent for a 2-bedroom in Roatán?
A West End 2-bedroom leases for $700 to $1,200 a month (about L 18,800 to L 32,200), and one in Sandy Bay for $600 to $1,000 (about L 16,100 to L 26,800), according to GoPro Caribbean (May 2026).
Larger homes with ocean views go for $1,200 to $1,800 a month (about L 32,200 to L 48,300), according to a local rental agency. At the very top, a 3-bedroom seafront villa in Dixon Cove was offered on Encuentra24 in 2026 from $3,500 a month on a 3-month minimum.
Being right on the beach adds roughly 30% to 50% to the rent, so a beachfront 2-bedroom in West End can pass $1,500 a month.
What's the average rent per square meter in Roatán?
No source publishes rent per m² for Roatán, so here is a worked example. Blue Vista 102, a West End 2-bedroom condo, measures 1,313 sq ft (about 122 m²). Rented at the West End 2-bedroom range of $700 to $1,200, that's about $6 to $10 per m² a month (about L 155 to L 265).
That is below the roughly $11 per m² most Tegucigalpa apartment listings ask. Roatán units are often bigger, and the rent pays for the location more than the floor area.
Rent per m² climbs fast for small furnished units close to the beach in West Bay or West End, with sea views, a pool, inverter A/C and backup water.
How much have rents changed year-over-year in Roatán?
Nobody measures it. There is no rent index for Roatán or for Honduras, and we found no survey comparing 2026 leases with 2025. Any precise percentage you see for the island is a guess.
What we can say: rents are set in dollars, and the lempira slid from about 26.37 to about 26.89 per dollar between January and early October 2026. So a tenant paid in lempiras pays about 2% more this year for the same dollar rent. Inflation reached 6.28% over the year to September 2026.
On the owner side, the signals point to flat dollar rents, not a rise: property sales on the island fell 26% in the first half of 2026, and there were 3.7 new listings for every sale in the second quarter, so more unsold condos end up on the rental market.
What's the outlook for rent growth in Roatán?
Expect flat to slightly higher dollar rents, not a jump. Demand is there: Honduras had 1,804,153 visitors in the first half of 2026 (up 18.5%), and many buyers rent for a season before they buy. But 1,210,860 of those visitors came by cruise ship and never rent anything.
Two things push rents up: the central bank raised its rate from 5.75% to 6.00% in September 2026, and a local mortgage costs around 13% in lempiras, so islanders who can't buy keep renting. Two things hold them down: a slow sales market that turns unsold condos into rentals, and 777 short-term listings competing for the same furnished-unit tenants in the off-season.
The well-run, furnished 1- and 2-bedrooms near the beach in West End and West Bay will hold their price. Big villas priced like holiday homes and remote east-end houses will sit empty longer.
Where rents are highest on Roatán, and who rents where
West Bay, West End and Sandy Bay lead for rents, with Lawson Rock, Pristine Bay and French Harbour behind. Each attracts a different tenant.
West Bay is the beach and resort strip, West End is the walkable dive village, Sandy Bay is quieter and residential, and French Harbour is the practical side of the island with shops, clinics and marinas.
Which neighborhoods have the highest rents in Roatán?
West Bay is the most expensive place to rent. Long-lease rents there are not reliably published, but its short-term rentals average L 9,127 a night (about $340), roughly double West End's L 4,511 (about $170) and three times Sandy Bay's L 3,097 (about $115), according to AirROI (October 2025 to September 2026).
For long leases, West End is the best documented: $700 to $1,200 a month for a 2-bedroom, against $600 to $1,000 in Sandy Bay. Larger ocean-view homes reach $1,200 to $1,800, mostly in West Bay, Lawson Rock and Pristine Bay.
Tenants in these areas are expats, retirees, remote workers and seasonal residents who pay for the beach, security and restaurants nearby.
By the way, we've written a blog article detailing what are the current best areas to invest in property in Roatán here.
Where do young professionals prefer to rent in Roatán right now?
Young workers, dive instructors and remote workers go for West End first, then Sandy Bay and French Harbour. Coxen Hole works for people with jobs near the airport, the cruise port or the government offices.
A studio or 1-bedroom in West End costs $350 to $700 a month (about L 9,400 to L 18,800), and a 1-bedroom in Sandy Bay $500 to $650 (about L 13,400 to L 17,450).
West End has the bars, dive shops and walkable streets. Sandy Bay is quieter and close by. French Harbour is where the island's shops and services are.
Where do families prefer to rent in Roatán right now?
Families and retired couples mostly pick Sandy Bay, French Harbour and Pristine Bay, plus Lawson Rock, First Bight and the quieter parts of West Bay Road.
A comfortable 2-bedroom there runs $750 to $1,500 a month (about L 20,100 to L 40,300), according to GoPro Caribbean. Numbeo's small sample puts a 3-bedroom at about $1,250 (about L 33,600) away from the busy areas and about $2,000 (about L 53,700) in them.
Families want space, parking, a quiet street and security, and to be near shops, clinics and schools. Bay Islands International School is the best-known private school for expat families; others homeschool.
Which areas near transit or universities rent faster in Roatán?
Roatán has no university market and no public transit to speak of. What matters is being near the main road, the airport, the ferry dock and the tourism jobs: Coxen Hole, West End and French Harbour.
Nobody publishes how long rentals stay listed or how much being near the road adds. In practice, a 1-bedroom you can reach without a car, at $350 to $700 in West End, finds a tenant faster than a cheaper house up a dirt road.
If your unit needs a car to get to, price it at the bottom of the range or include utilities.
Which neighborhoods are most popular with expats in Roatán right now?
The three expat favorites are West End, West Bay and Sandy Bay, with Lawson Rock, Pristine Bay, Parrot Tree and parts of French Harbour also common.
In West End, expats pay $350 to $700 for a 1-bedroom and $700 to $1,200 for a 2-bedroom (about L 18,800 to L 32,200). Ocean-view homes run $1,200 to $1,800.
Expats come for the English-speaking community, the diving, the beach and furnished rentals. Most are from the United States and Canada, with Europeans, retirees and divers in the mix.
And if you are also an expat, you may want to read our exhaustive guide for expats in Roatán here.
Who rents on Roatán, and what they pay extra for
Roatán tenants are expats, retirees, remote workers, divers, tourism staff and buyers trying the island before they buy.
What they want is simple: furnished, A/C, reliable internet, water storage, parking, security, and the beach or the main road close by.
What tenant profiles dominate rentals in Roatán?
Three groups: expats and retirees, often on 6- to 12-month leases; divers and remote workers, who want a studio or 1-bedroom near West End; and island workers in tourism and services, who rent larger, cheaper, often unfurnished homes near Coxen Hole and French Harbour.
Nobody measures their shares, so ignore any precise split you see. What is clear is that the dollar market, at $700 to $1,200 for a West End 2-bedroom, is driven by foreigners, while island workers pay far less in lempiras.
If you want to optimize your cashflow, you can read our complete guide on how to buy and rent out in Roatán here.
Do tenants prefer furnished or unfurnished in Roatán?
Furnished, by far, for anyone paying in dollars. Furnished rentals on Roatán often include kitchen supplies, linens and utilities, and leases usually run 3 to 12 months.
Unfurnished homes are mostly rented by island families and workers. If you buy to rent to foreigners, plan for furniture: a small furnished apartment starts around $600 a month (about L 16,100).
Buyers testing the island before they buy are a steady source of furnished demand, and they often stay for a full season.
Which amenities increase rent the most in Roatán?
The beach comes first: beachfront adds roughly 30% to 50% to the rent. After that, tenants pay for sea views, a pool, A/C that doesn't blow up the power bill, backup water and solid internet.
A/C matters because of the power bill: a tenant running A/C all night pays $60 to $120 a month (about L 1,610 to L 3,220) for electricity, against $10 to $30 without it. Inverter A/C or solar makes your unit easier to rent.
Water outages are common in the dry season (February to May), so a tank and pump are worth more on Roatán than a fancy kitchen.
What renovations get the best ROI for rentals in Roatán?
The five that pay back best: inverter split A/C, a water tank and pump, a fast internet setup, a refreshed bathroom and shaded outdoor space.
Internet is cheap to fix: a home plan costs $30 to $40 a month, and Starlink about L 1,200 a month (about $45) plus about $400 of hardware. For a remote worker, that alone can decide the lease.
Skip what salt air destroys: fragile finishes, untreated metal, expensive decor and overbuilt kitchens.
Rental demand on Roatán: strong in February, thin in the fall
Demand is real but seasonal and selective. Well-priced furnished units near West Bay, West End and Sandy Bay rent; overpriced villas and remote houses wait.
The season matters more than anything: the island is twice as busy in February as in November.
What's the vacancy rate for rentals in Roatán?
Nobody publishes a vacancy rate for long-term rentals on Roatán, and we found no survey that measures one. The vacancy figures we used to show were estimates, so we removed them.
The closest hard number is on the short-term side: Airbnb-type listings filled 32% of available nights between October 2025 and September 2026, and 40% in West End, according to AirROI. That is why some owners switch to long leases.
Short-term supply also fell 7% over the year, to 777 active listings.
How many days do rentals stay listed in Roatán?
No source tracks it. Long-term rentals on Roatán are mostly found through agencies, Facebook groups and word of mouth, so there is no portal history to measure.
What we know: typical leases run 3 to 12 months, and landlords usually ask one month's rent as a deposit. A unit priced in line with the $700 to $1,200 West End 2-bedroom range goes fastest from December to March.
If your listing sits for more than a month, the price or the access is the problem, not the market.
Which months have peak tenant demand in Roatán?
January to March is the peak: short-term occupancy reached 41.4% in January, 53.1% in February and 48.3% in March 2026, when snowbirds arrive. June and July are a second, smaller peak at about 35%.
The low point is the fall: 26.4% in October and 24.5% in November 2025, during the rainy season.
For a long lease, list your unit in October or November so the tenant is in by December, and avoid a lease that ends in September.
Long lease or Airbnb: what a Roatán condo really earns in 2026
At today's sale prices, the yield on a long lease on Roatán is thin. Take a 2-bedroom condo at Blue Vista in West End, asking $315,000 (about L 8,460,000) in August 2026.
Rented at $700 to $1,200 a month, it grosses $8,400 to $14,400 a year (about L 226,000 to L 387,000), or 2.7% to 4.6% of the price. After one empty month, the 25% non-resident tax, about $3,600 of condo fees and about $790 of property tax, a foreign owner keeps about $1,390 to $5,510 a year: 0.4% to 1.8%, before insurance and repairs.
Airbnb grosses more: the average Roatán 2-bedroom made L 466,000 (about $17,350) between October 2025 and September 2026, at 33% occupancy. But a unit run as tourist accommodation pays 15% sales tax (ISV) and the 4% tourism tax. If those come out of the nightly price, about L 392,000 is left, and about L 333,000 (about $12,400) after a 10% co-host and 5% for utilities, before cleaning, furniture and condo fees.
What to do: check that the condo rules allow short stays, ask the seller for the unit's real rental income for the past 12 months, and only buy at a price where the long-lease numbers work. With final sale prices landing 7.7% to 10.1% below asking in Q2 2026, you have room to negotiate.
Can a Roatán landlord raise the rent with inflation at 6.28%?
Not on his own. Under the Ley de Inquilinato, a landlord cannot impose a rent increase; it has to be agreed with the tenant or go through the rent office (Departamento Administrativo de Inquilinato), according to the UNAH legal clinic.
Most Roatán leases are in dollars, which already protects the owner against the lempira's 2% slide this year. Inflation at 6.28% still raises your costs in lempiras, from staff to repairs, so write a yearly increase rule into the lease from day one.
Other rules: a tenant can generally leave with 60 days' written notice, and two months of unpaid rent plus eight days is the ground to go to court. Eviction needs a judge: you cannot change the locks or cut the water.
What to do: sign a written lease in Spanish and English, set the rent in dollars with a yearly increase clause, cap the electricity the rent includes (or make the tenant pay it), and ask for at least one month's deposit.
What a Roatán landlord pays: condo fees, taxes and utilities
For a condo, plan on about $400 to $620 a month in fixed costs (about L 10,750 to L 16,650) before income tax: condo fees of $300 to $500, about $63 of property tax on a $300,000 unit, $30 to $40 for internet and $10 to $20 for water.
Houses with a pool or garden cost more to run, and salt air and humidity wear out A/C units, metal and appliances faster than on the mainland.
What property taxes should landlords expect in Roatán?
Roatán's 2024 municipal tax plan sets property tax at L 2.50 per L 1,000 of assessed value, or 0.25% a year. On a $300,000 condo, that's about $750 a year (about L 20,100). RE/MAX Roatán puts a typical 3-bedroom house at about $800 a year.
We couldn't confirm the 2026 rate, so check your bill with the municipality. Whatever the town decides, the Municipalities Law caps urban property tax at L 3.50 per L 1,000 (0.35%).
Assessed values are usually below market prices, so many owners pay less than these figures.
What utilities do landlords often pay in Roatán right now?
Landlords usually pay condo fees, water, internet, and pool or garden care; tenants usually pay electricity. Condo fees run $300 a month at Blue Vista in West End to $500 at Acqua di Mare in West Bay.
Water is about $10 to $20 a month and often included in the rent; internet $30 to $40. Electricity is the big one: RECO charges L 6.11 per kWh up to 150 kWh and L 8.95 above (CREE tariff, September to November 2026), so 300 kWh costs about L 2,260 (about $84).
Never include unlimited power in a furnished rental: one tenant running A/C all night can wipe out your margin. Include a fixed allowance and bill the rest.
How is rental income taxed in Roatán?
A non-resident owner pays 25% on Honduran rental income, withheld at source. That's the case for most foreign owners on Roatán: a $1,000 monthly rent leaves $750 before any other cost.
A landlord who is a Honduran tax resident pays 10% on residential rent under the special rental regime, once total rent passes L 15,000 a month (about $560). Normal residential leases are exempt from sales tax (ISV); short stays classed as tourist lodging are not, and add 15% ISV plus the 4% tourism tax.
The classic mistakes: thinking island rent is outside Honduran tax, ignoring the non-resident withholding, mixing short- and long-term income in the same records, and losing repair and utility receipts.
We cover these mistakes, among others, in our list of risks and pitfalls people face when buying property in Roatán here.
Our methodology
This article looks at long-term residential rents on Roatán in 2026: what studios, 1-bedrooms and 2-bedrooms lease for, where rents are highest, who rents, how seasonal demand is, what a landlord pays and what a rental really earns. It does not cover nightly holiday rates, except to compare a long lease with Airbnb.
Roatán has no rent index and no official rent survey. Long-lease rents come from GoPro Caribbean's May 2026 poll of residents, Affordable Roatán (January 2026), a single Encuentra24 listing and Numbeo's small crowdsourced sample (16 entries, November 2025). These are asking ranges, not signed leases. Short-term figures come from AirROI only, without mixing platforms. Sales data comes from the Roatan Reef / Tomás Figueroa analysis of Roatán MLS closings. Yields and conversions are computed by script.
Rules and taxes come from official sources first: SAR for rental-income tax and ISV, the IHT for the tourism tax, Roatán's municipal tax plan and the Ley de Municipalidades for property tax, CREE for electricity tariffs, UNAH's legal clinic for the Ley de Inquilinato, and the BCH for inflation, the exchange rate and interest rates.
We checked these figures in October 2026. Lempira amounts use about 26.85 lempiras per US dollar (and about 30.15 lempiras per euro where euros appear).
Limits: the rent ranges come from small samples, rent per m² is a worked example on one condo, no one measures vacancy or days on market for long leases, and the yield examples use asking prices and provider averages, not your unit's real results. We removed the year-on-year rent change, forecast, vacancy and tenant-share figures we used to publish because no data supported them.
Key sources used for this analysis include GoPro Caribbean, Affordable Roatán, Numbeo Roatán, Encuentra24, AirROI Roatán, Roatan Reef Q2 2026 MLS report, Tomás Figueroa Roatán market guide, Roatan Real Estate Services 2026 market update, Roatán MLS (Blue Vista 102), Roatán MLS (Blue Vista 101), Roatán MLS (Acqua di Mare), RE/MAX Roatán, Rentberry Roatán, Airbnb monthly rentals, ExpatLife Roatán, CREE Roatán tariffs, Roatán 2024 municipal tax plan, SEFIN, Ley de Municipalidades, CEPAL, Ley de Municipalidades, SAR non-resident income tax FAQ, SAR Income Tax Law, SAR FAQs, Calcularya, PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, IHT tourism tax, UNAH Consultorio Jurídico on the Ley de Inquilinato, La Tribuna on inflation, El Heraldo on the BCH rate, El Heraldo on the lempira, BCH Programa Monetario 2026-2027, IHT visitor arrivals, INE tourism statistics 2020-2024 and INE Islas de la Bahía census.
