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What rental yield can a condo get in Santa Marta?

Can a Santa Marta condo really get a 7% rental yield today?

Yes. A well-bought Santa Marta condo can currently produce about 6% to 8% gross rental yield, and 7% is a realistic target rather than an unusually optimistic one.

The latest Global Property Guide data, based on asking prices and rents collected from local property portals including Metrocuadrado, puts Santa Marta’s average gross residential yield at 6.44%. One-bedroom apartments come out much better at 7.34%, while two-bedroom apartments average only 5.54%.

That difference is already useful. The Santa Marta market does not reward every condo equally, and adding bedrooms does not automatically improve the return. Small units currently convert purchase price into rent much more efficiently.

Net returns are naturally lower. Global Property Guide estimates that recurring costs typically reduce Colombian gross yields by around 1.5 to 2 percentage points. Once we include administration fees, vacancy, repairs and other expenses, a Santa Marta condo producing 7% gross will often leave roughly 5% net.

For a normal long-term rental, we would therefore use 6% to 7% gross as an ordinary result, 7% to 8% as a good one, and anything well above 8% as something worth checking carefully before believing.

Santa Marta condo	Current gross yield	Likely net range	How we read it
1 bedroom	7.34%	~5.3–5.8%	Strong
2 bedrooms	5.54%	~3.5–4.0%	Quite weak
City average	6.44%	~4.4–4.9%	Normal
Well-bought small unit	7–8%	~5–6%	Good target

Why can two Santa Marta condos have completely different rental yields?

Two Santa Marta condos can produce very different rental yields because the purchase price often changes much faster than the rent.

A small older apartment in Rodadero, a newer unit in Playa Salguero and a luxury beachfront condo in Bello Horizonte may all appeal to renters, but investors pay very different amounts to own them.

That is where the yield gap starts.

Luxury buildings command large premiums for sea views, swimming pools, gyms, modern common areas, security and newer construction. Tenants will pay more for those features, but usually not enough to match the increase in the property's purchase price.

The building itself can widen the gap again. A simple older tower might have relatively modest monthly administration fees. A resort-style development with several pools, reception staff, elevators and landscaped common areas can cost the owner several hundred thousand pesos more every month.

So the relationship between price and achievable rent matters much more than whether a condo looks premium. In Santa Marta, some of the nicest apartments produce surprisingly ordinary returns.

Are small condos still the best rental properties in Santa Marta?

Yes. Small Santa Marta condos currently have a clear yield advantage, especially one-bedroom apartments and compact studios bought at sensible prices.

The latest citywide data makes the gap unusually easy to see. A Santa Marta one-bedroom averages 7.34% gross, compared with only 5.54% for a two-bedroom.

That is a difference of 1.8 percentage points.

Going from a compact apartment to a larger two-bedroom can add tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of pesos to the purchase price. Monthly rent rises too, but generally by a much smaller percentage.

A buyer therefore puts considerably more capital into the property without receiving a proportional increase in annual rent.

Small units also have a broad rental audience in Santa Marta. Couples, solo tenants, remote workers, tourists and people staying for a few months can all use them. Larger units depend more heavily on families and groups willing to pay enough to justify the extra space.

For investors chasing income rather than personal use, that makes the smaller end of the market hard to ignore.

Can Rodadero condos still get some of Santa Marta’s best rental yields?

Yes. Rodadero remains one of the easiest places in Santa Marta to find a condo around the 7% gross-yield mark without relying on a particularly unusual rental strategy.

The broader Rodadero area has several advantages at once. Entry prices remain below the newest beachfront developments farther south, there is a huge stock of apartments, and rental demand comes from both tourists and longer-stay tenants.

Rodadero Sur can be particularly interesting because older buildings sometimes bring the purchase price down while keeping the property close to the beach and the wider Rodadero rental market. Rodadero Reservado offers a somewhat more residential feel. Playa Salguero generally costs more, although newer buildings can appeal to tenants willing to pay for better facilities.

The individual building still matters more than the neighborhood label. Two apartments only a few streets apart can have very different administration fees, maintenance histories and short-term-rental rules.

But if the main goal is yield, the Rodadero–Salguero corridor remains one of the first places we would look today.

Area	Typical investor appeal	Purchase-price pressure	Yield potential
Rodadero Sur	Cheaper small condos	Lower	High
El Rodadero	Deep rental demand	Moderate	High
Rodadero Reservado	Rental + residential demand	Moderate	High
Playa Salguero	Newer coastal buildings	Higher	Good
Bello Horizonte	Premium lifestyle product	High	Lower
Pozos Colorados	New luxury beachfront stock	Very high	Lower

Do expensive beach condos in Santa Marta actually have worse rental yields?

Often, yes. Premium Santa Marta beach condos can collect impressive monthly rents while producing a weaker percentage return than much cheaper apartments.

Bello Horizonte and Pozos Colorados are good examples. Buyers pay heavily for direct beach access, newer towers, sea views, extensive amenities and proximity to the airport.

Those advantages have real value. They can make a condo easier to enjoy personally, attractive to wealthier vacationers and potentially easier to market as a premium product.

The problem appears when we divide annual rent by the purchase price.

Suppose a small condo bought for COP 320 million generates COP 2 million per month. That is COP 24 million a year, or 7.5% gross.

Now take a luxury apartment costing COP 850 million and renting for COP 4 million per month. Annual rent reaches COP 48 million, twice as much as the cheaper property. Yet the yield falls to only 5.65% because the buyer had to invest more than two and a half times as much capital.

Higher rent can therefore hide a worse investment return.

That does not make Bello Horizonte or Pozos Colorados bad places to buy. Buyers there are often paying for lifestyle and property quality as much as rental income.

Example	Purchase price	Monthly rent	Gross yield
Small Rodadero-type condo	COP 320m	COP 2.0m	7.50%
Mid-market coastal condo	COP 500m	COP 2.8m	6.72%
Premium beach condo	COP 700m	COP 3.5m	6.00%
Luxury beach condo	COP 850m	COP 4.0m	5.65%

How much can condo fees cut a Santa Marta rental yield?

Condo fees can easily remove around one percentage point from a Santa Marta rental yield before we have even paid for repairs, vacancy or property management.

Administration fees vary enormously across Santa Marta buildings.

Older and simpler developments can keep monthly charges relatively low. Newer coastal towers often have pools, gyms, reception staff, several elevators, backup systems, gardens and large common areas. Owners pay for all of that every month whether the condo is occupied or empty.

Take a COP 400 million condo with an administration fee of COP 500,000 a month. That is COP 6 million a year, equivalent to 1.5% of the property's purchase price.

A 7% headline gross yield has already fallen to 5.5% before property tax, insurance, maintenance, occasional vacancy or letting costs enter the calculation.

At COP 800,000 a month, annual administration reaches COP 9.6 million. On a COP 500 million condo, that consumes another 1.92% of the property's value every year.

This is one of the easiest ways to get fooled by an apparently cheap Santa Marta condo. The purchase price can look attractive while the building quietly takes a large share of the rent.

What does a 7% Santa Marta rental yield become after real expenses?

A 7% gross rental yield in Santa Marta will often end up around 5% net once ordinary ownership costs are included.

As seen above, the latest citywide research suggests that net yields in Colombia are generally 1.5 to 2 percentage points below gross yields. Santa Marta fits that pattern quite well.

Administration fees usually take the first bite. Then we have maintenance, property tax, insurance, vacancy between tenants and occasional work inside the condo. Furnished units also need mattresses, appliances, air conditioners, linen and furniture replaced over time.

Management can reduce the return further for owners who do not live in Santa Marta.

A property producing 7.5% gross might therefore finish around 5.5% net if its building costs are reasonable and vacancies stay low. A more expensive building with high administration fees could push the same gross yield below 5%.

This is the number we would actually use when comparing Santa Marta with other investments. Gross yield tells us whether the property is worth investigating. Net yield tells us whether we really want to own it.

Gross yield	Approx. cost drag	Approx. net yield
6.0%	1.5–2.0 pts	4.0–4.5%
7.0%	1.5–2.0 pts	5.0–5.5%
8.0%	1.5–2.0 pts	6.0–6.5%
9.0%	1.5–2.0 pts	7.0–7.5%

Can Airbnb beat a normal rental condo in Santa Marta?

Yes, Airbnb can beat a conventional Santa Marta lease, but current market averages make double-digit returns far from automatic.

AirDNA currently tracks 6,999 active short-term rentals in Santa Marta. The average listing generated about US$10,900 over the latest trailing 12 months, with 46% occupancy and a US$71 average daily rate.

That gives us an interesting benchmark.

US$10,900 of yearly booking revenue can represent a very attractive percentage return on an inexpensive condo. Put roughly the same revenue against a much more expensive beachfront property and the economics weaken quickly.

For example, annual revenue equivalent to around COP 35 million would equal 10.9% of a COP 320 million purchase price. Against a COP 600 million condo, the same revenue falls to 5.8%. At COP 900 million, it is below 4%.

We should be careful with that comparison because AirDNA's figure covers the whole Santa Marta short-term-rental market and mixes different property sizes, neighborhoods and accommodation types. It is useful as a market benchmark rather than a promise of what one particular apartment will earn.

Still, it reinforces something we see throughout Santa Marta: acquisition price often determines the yield more than the headline rent.

Condo purchase price	COP 35m annual STR revenue equals
COP 280m	12.5%
COP 320m	10.9%
COP 450m	7.8%
COP 600m	5.8%
COP 900m	3.9%

Is Santa Marta’s Airbnb market getting better or just cheaper?

Santa Marta’s Airbnb market is filling more nights lately, but hosts are doing it at lower nightly prices.

The latest AirDNA figures are unusually revealing. Average occupancy has risen 21.1% year over year to 46%, while the average daily rate has fallen 16.8% to US$71.

RevPAR, which combines occupancy and nightly price, is up a much more moderate 13.3% to US$33.

That is probably the number to watch.

Hosts are benefiting from stronger occupancy, but customers have more pricing power than the huge increase in average annual revenue might suggest. Lower nightly rates are helping properties stay occupied.

The supply side has also changed dramatically. Active listings are down 34.5% year over year to 6,999. With substantially fewer listings competing for guests, the properties still active can capture more bookings even without raising their prices.

So any investment pitch built around explosive Airbnb revenue growth deserves some skepticism. Santa Marta's surviving short-term rentals are currently filling more nights, while nightly pricing remains under pressure.

Does Santa Marta have enough tourists to keep thousands of rental condos occupied?

Yes. Santa Marta still has a large enough tourism base to support a serious vacation-rental market, although current visitor numbers do not justify assuming unlimited rental growth.

Simón Bolívar Airport handled roughly 1.83 million passengers during the first half of the year, according to figures compiled from Aerocivil data by Pro Santa Marta. That was only about 2.1% below the record level reached during the same period a year earlier.

International traffic performed better, rising about 4.3%.

Santa Marta also gets several distinct waves of demand rather than depending on one short summer. Semana Santa, year-end holidays, Colombian school breaks, long weekends and major events such as Fiesta del Mar all bring visitors into the city.

The destination itself is broader than Rodadero beach. Santa Marta is also the entry point for Tayrona, Minca and the Sierra Nevada, which gives the tourism market several different reasons to travel.

There is still plenty of accommodation fighting for those visitors. As we saw previously, AirDNA counts almost 7,000 active short-term rentals even after a sharp decline in supply. Hotels and hostels compete for the same tourism spending as well.

That combination explains why occupancy can improve while nightly rates fall. Demand is substantial, but hosts still have to compete hard for it.

Can any Santa Marta condo legally be used as an Airbnb?

No. A Santa Marta condo needs both the proper tourism registration and a building that allows tourist rentals before we should treat Airbnb income as legally available.

Colombia requires tourist accommodation providers to register in the Registro Nacional de Turismo, usually referred to as the RNT.

For condos governed by propiedad horizontal rules, the building regulations matter just as much. An owner registering tourist accommodation must be able to declare that the property's horizontal-property rules authorize that activity.

This creates a major difference between apartments that may look almost identical online.

One building can explicitly allow short stays. Another can restrict them to residential use. A buyer who discovers the restriction after completing the purchase may be left with only the long-term rental market.

Current Santa Marta listings already reflect the distinction. Some sellers highlight short-term-rental permission or an existing RNT because it increases the property's appeal to investors.

Check the building rules before using a single Airbnb number in the investment calculation. If short stays are prohibited, the short-term-rental yield is irrelevant.

Does Airbnb still make more money after all the extra costs?

Sometimes. A Santa Marta Airbnb can earn more than a long-term lease, but the extra revenue can shrink quickly once we pay for the operation behind it.

Short-term guests create expenses that a normal residential tenant often absorbs directly.

The owner may be paying electricity, water, internet, cleaning coordination, linen, toiletries, platform fees and regular replacement of heavily used furniture and appliances. Air-conditioning can become a particularly meaningful expense in a hot coastal city.

An absentee owner may also need a local manager to handle guest messages, check-ins, problems and cleaners. A management percentage taken from booking revenue can materially change the final yield.

There are formal costs and obligations as well. Tourist accommodation needs an active RNT and must comply with Colombia's tourism rules and guest-registration requirements.

The comparison therefore needs to be made after expenses.

A condo earning 10% of its purchase price in Airbnb booking revenue could still be a very good rental property. If operating costs consume three or four percentage points, however, the advantage over a simple 7% long-term lease suddenly looks much smaller.

Airbnb works best when the property has a strong revenue advantage before we start subtracting costs. Otherwise there is a lot of extra work for not much extra return.

Could Santa Marta’s water problems hurt a condo’s rental income?

Yes. Santa Marta’s water problems can hurt rental income, especially in buildings that lack enough storage and backup infrastructure.

Water supply remains a practical issue in the city. ESSMAR has repeatedly had to deal with reduced river flows, infrastructure failures, intake interruptions and a distribution system that still loses a very large share of the water passing through it.

For a rental investor, the important question is what happens inside the building when the city supply weakens.

Well-run towers can store substantial quantities of water and keep service going through many interruptions. Poorly prepared buildings expose tenants and tourists directly to the problem.

This becomes especially important with Airbnb. A long-term resident may tolerate an occasional inconvenience differently from a tourist spending a few nights on holiday and then leaving a public review.

We would ask the administration how large the building's tanks are, how often residents have experienced shortages, whether pumps and backup systems are maintained properly, and whether water has recently had to be brought in externally.

Those answers tell us far more about the rental risk than simply knowing that the property is located in Santa Marta.

Can a mortgaged Santa Marta rental condo pay for itself?

Usually not with a normal Colombian mortgage today. Santa Marta rental yields remain far below the borrowing cost on a highly financed condo.

The arithmetic is harsh.

A strong Santa Marta condo might generate 7% to 8% gross and perhaps around 5% to 6% net. Colombian housing loans, meanwhile, are still being offered at rates in the double digits, with major banks advertising peso-denominated mortgage rates around the mid-teens for some borrowers and products.

Imagine a COP 450 million condo producing 7% gross rent. Annual rental income is COP 31.5 million before expenses.

If the buyer finances 70%, the mortgage is COP 315 million. The interest cost alone on expensive peso financing can exceed what the property produces in net rental income, even before we consider principal repayment and insurance.

Cash buyers face a very different equation. A genuine 5% net rental return may be perfectly reasonable when the owner also wants exposure to Santa Marta property prices or expects to use the apartment personally.

For a heavily leveraged investor, today's spread between borrowing costs and rental yields is simply too wide.

Santa Marta investment metric	Approximate level
Good gross condo yield	7–8%
Good net condo yield	~5–6%
Typical Colombian mortgage cost	Double digits
Likely leveraged cash flow	Weak or negative

Which Santa Marta condo gives the best mix of yield and low risk?

For most investors, a reasonably priced studio or one-bedroom in the Rodadero–Salguero corridor currently offers the best mix of rental yield, tenant demand and resale options.

A studio has the strongest arithmetic. Less capital is tied up in the property, while rent does not fall proportionally with the smaller size.

A one-bedroom gives up a little yield but can be easier to rent to different types of occupants. Couples, solo tenants, professionals, remote workers and tourists can all use the same unit.

We would generally prefer that flexibility to stretching for a luxury two-bedroom whose purchase price rises much faster than its rent.

Cheap units in Gaira or older parts of Rodadero can sometimes push the return higher again. The discount only helps if the building itself is healthy. An old elevator, façade problem, weak reserve fund or major plumbing project can erase several years of extra yield through a single extraordinary assessment.

For the same reason, accepting a slightly lower return in a well-run building can make more sense than chasing the highest advertised percentage in a property with obvious maintenance risk.

The sweet spot is fairly narrow: small unit, sensible administration fee, healthy building, strong year-round location and a purchase price that still leaves room for roughly 7% gross rent.

What rental yield should we demand before buying a Santa Marta condo?

We would currently want around 7% gross from an ordinary Santa Marta investment condo, because accepting much less leaves too little room after expenses.

The citywide average is only 6.44%, but that average includes larger and less efficient units. One-bedroom properties are already around 7.34%, which gives us a better benchmark for an investor deliberately shopping for yield.

Below 6% gross, a condo needs another convincing reason to own it. Perhaps the building is exceptional, the location is genuinely scarce, the buyer expects strong appreciation or the property will also be used personally.

Between 6% and 7%, the return is acceptable but hardly exciting.

At 7% to 8%, the numbers start to look good for Santa Marta, especially if administration fees stay reasonable.

Above 8%, we become more interested but also more skeptical. Sometimes the investor has genuinely found a cheap property. Other times the calculation is hiding unrealistic rent, temporary Airbnb revenue, expensive building fees, major repairs or a weak location.

The best yields are worth chasing, but they also deserve the most checking.

So, what rental yield can a condo get in Santa Marta today?

A good Santa Marta condo can currently produce about 7% to 8% gross and roughly 5% to 6% net, while the wider market sits closer to 6.4% gross.

That is the range we would actually use when evaluating a purchase.

One-bedroom condos currently look particularly strong at about 7.34% gross across the city, whereas two-bedroom apartments average only 5.54%. That gap tells us more about the market than the rent on any individual listing: small properties are simply turning capital into rent more efficiently.

Rodadero, Rodadero Sur, Rodadero Reservado and parts of Playa Salguero remain especially interesting for investors who want that combination of reasonable entry price and broad rental demand.

Premium areas such as Bello Horizonte and Pozos Colorados can still make sense, but we would buy them for a mix of rental income, property quality and lifestyle. Their higher prices make genuinely high yields harder to achieve.

Airbnb raises the ceiling for the right condo. Current short-term-rental occupancy is improving and Santa Marta continues to receive very large numbers of visitors. Nightly rates have fallen, though, which makes aggressive revenue projections much harder to defend.

Our target is straightforward. For an ordinary investment condo in Santa Marta, we would aim for at least 7% gross and around 5% net after realistic recurring expenses. Getting above that is possible, especially with a small well-bought unit, but 10% effortless rental yields are not the normal market today.

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