Are rents still rising in Tulum?

Which Tulum neighborhoods are cheaper to rent than a year and a half ago?

Almost all the big ones. Propiedades.com puts Tulum apartment rents 5.6% below their April 2025 level in its October 2026 data.

The drop isn't one odd neighborhood. Tulum Centro is down 13.7%, Villas Tulum 11.5%, Aldea Zama 8.4%, La Veleta 5.7% and Tumben Kaa 5.6%. Region 15 Kukulcan, up 6%, is the one sizable apartment market still going the other way.

Those are also the areas with the most rental listings, so this is what most tenants actually see.

One complication: Tulum has several rental markets at once. Apartment rents, house rents, four-month furnished leases and Airbnb nightly rates don't move together. House rents across Tulum are down only 3.4% on the same site.

Tulum apartment market	Average asking rent (Oct. 2026)	Change since Apr. 2025	Active listings
La Veleta	MXN 16,724	-5.7%	315
Aldea Zama	MXN 23,610	-8.4%	311
Tulum Centro	MXN 17,707	-13.7%	240
Tumben Kaa	MXN 17,707	-5.6%	146
Region 15 Kukulcan	MXN 18,691	+6.0%	83
Villas Tulum	MXN 13,772	-11.5%	28
Tulum overall	—	-5.6%	—

Why does Tulum still feel expensive if rents are falling?

Because rents started from a high level, and a 5% to 10% drop doesn't turn Tulum into a cheap place to live.

The average apartment in Aldea Zama still asks about MXN 23,600 a month (around $1,270) after an 8.4% fall. La Veleta sits near MXN 16,700 (about $899) and Centro near MXN 17,700 (about $952). Propiedades.com shows exactly the same MXN 17,707 for Tumben Kaa, which looks like a glitch on the site, so read those two levels as rough; their percentage changes and listing counts do differ. TuLugar puts the citywide median condo rent at about $982 a month.

Someone arriving from a cheaper Mexican city sees MXN 20,000 furnished apartments and concludes rents are high. They are. The direction is just different from the level.

Running costs add to it. Many furnished rentals exclude electricity, and air-conditioning makes CFE bills a real line in Tulum. Internet and cleaning are often extra too.

Where are Tulum apartment rents falling the most?

Tulum Centro, Villas Tulum and Aldea Zama, while Region 15 is the main large area still rising.

Centro has the biggest drop among the large markets: down 13.7% to about MXN 17,700, with 240 apartments listed. Villas Tulum is down 11.5%, but with only 28 listings. Aldea Zama is down 8.4% with 311 listings, and La Veleta 5.7% with 315.

Reversing those percentages shows what tenants have gained in pesos. Centro went from about MXN 20,500 to MXN 17,700. Aldea Zama went from about MXN 25,800 to MXN 23,600. La Veleta went from about MXN 17,700 to MXN 16,700.

That's roughly MXN 1,000 to 2,800 less a month (about $54 to $150), before any negotiation.

Region 15 is different: its average rose 6% to about MXN 18,700, with 83 apartments listed. That's enough to call it a local trend, not noise.

Area	Approx. rent, Apr. 2025	Rent, Oct. 2026	Approx. monthly change	Trend
Tulum Centro	MXN 20,500	MXN 17,707	-MXN 2,800	Down
Aldea Zama	MXN 25,800	MXN 23,610	-MXN 2,200	Down
Villas Tulum	MXN 15,600	MXN 13,772	-MXN 1,800	Down
Tumben Kaa	MXN 18,800	MXN 17,707	-MXN 1,100	Down
La Veleta	MXN 17,700	MXN 16,724	-MXN 1,000	Down
Region 15 Kukulcan	MXN 17,600	MXN 18,691	+MXN 1,100	Up

Are house rents in Tulum falling too?

Yes, but less than apartments overall, with big gaps between neighborhoods.

Propiedades.com puts average house rents across Tulum down 3.4% since April 2025, against 5.6% for apartments.

Locally, the falls can be steep. La Veleta houses are down 20.1% to about MXN 41,300 a month (57 listings), and Tulum Centro houses down 20.1% to about MXN 29,500 (50 listings). Aldea Zama houses are down 7.3%, but still average about MXN 62,200 a month (around $3,340) across 27 listings.

House samples are small, so a few listings can swing these numbers. Still, a well-located three-bedroom house with a garden has far fewer direct competitors than a furnished one-bedroom condo, and that's where landlords keep more pricing power.

Does Tulum have too many apartments for rents to keep rising?

Yes. Tulum has enough excess housing to make broad rent increases hard, especially in the investor-heavy condo neighborhoods.

An InfoHabitat analysis of Softec data, published by El Economista in July 2026, found that homes under construction rose from 1,466 in 2017 to 13,266 in 2023, about nine times more in six years.

Sales then went the other way. Annual home sales fell from 3,487 in 2023 to 1,711 in 2025, a drop of about 51%. Monthly sales per development fell from 1.4 homes in 2022 to 0.9 in 2025.

The same analysis puts permanently occupied housing at about 21% of Tulum's stock, against 82% in Playa del Carmen and 89% in Cancún. Tulum naturally has more second homes than a normal city, so that's not a vacancy rate. It does show how much of the city depends on visitors and investors.

All those condos end up competing somewhere: on Airbnb, in monthly rentals, with long-term tenants, on the resale market, or empty. When thousands of owners face the same choice, tenants win.

Housing indicator	Earlier level	Later level	Change
Homes under construction	1,466 in 2017	13,266 in 2023	+805%
Annual home sales	3,487 in 2023	1,711 in 2025	-51%
Monthly sales per development	1.4 in 2022	0.9 in 2025	-36%
Permanently occupied housing, Tulum	—	~21%	Very low
Permanently occupied housing, Playa del Carmen	—	~82%	Much higher
Permanently occupied housing, Cancún	—	~89%	Much higher

How much choice do Tulum renters have now?

A lot: more than 1,100 apartments are listed for rent across six neighborhoods on Propiedades.com.

In October 2026 it shows 315 apartments for rent in La Veleta, 311 in Aldea Zama, 240 in Centro, 146 in Tumben Kaa, 83 in Region 15 and 28 in Villas Tulum.

La Veleta and Aldea Zama alone have 626. Both are packed with similar furnished condos: pool, gym, rooftop, air-conditioning, security.

That makes comparing easy. If a one-bedroom asks MXN 22,000, a near-identical one a few streets away is one click further. Landlords can still ask ambitious rents, but an asking price only means something once a tenant signs.

Are fewer tourists and flights pushing Tulum rents down?

Yes. Tulum built much of its housing for visitors, and visitor numbers are falling.

Quintana Roo's tourism data put Tulum hotel occupancy at 66.18% in the first half of 2026, down from 74.32% a year earlier. That 8.13-point fall was the worst among the state's big destinations; Quintana Roo as a whole lost 2.95 points. From January to July, Tulum averaged 63.7%, against 72.7% in 2025.

The slide started earlier: full-year occupancy went from 73.8% in 2024 to 69.1% in 2025.

The airport is going the same way. AFAC statistics show 471,500 passengers in the first half of 2026, down 33.2% from 705,400, with international traffic down 40.8%. Aeroméxico stopped flying to Tulum on September 30, 2026, Volaris plans to leave in early 2027, and American Airlines is dropping its Miami route while keeping Dallas.

In a normal city, hotel occupancy has little to do with long-term rents. In Tulum, many condos were sold on the idea that tourists would fill them. When they don't, those units spill into monthly rentals.

Tourism indicator	Earlier	Latest	Change
Tulum hotel occupancy, first half	74.32% (2025)	66.18% (2026)	-8.13 pp
Tulum hotel occupancy, full year	73.8% (2024)	69.1% (2025)	-4.7 pp
Quintana Roo hotel occupancy, first half	75.82% (2025)	72.87% (2026)	-2.95 pp
Tulum Airport passengers, first half	705,400 (2025)	471,500 (2026)	-33.2%
Tulum Airport international passengers, first half	417,600 (2025)	247,100 (2026)	-40.8%

Are lower Airbnb prices spilling into Tulum's long-term rental market?

Yes. Short-term rentals earn less per available night, which makes a long-term tenant more attractive to many owners.

AirDNA's data for the 12 months to September 2026 show an average nightly rate of $125, down 23.6% year over year. RevPAR, which combines price and occupancy, is down 10.7% to $58.

Hosts fill more of their nights but earn less for each night they make available. Add cleaning, management, utilities, platform fees and empty weeks, and keeping a condo only on Airbnb looks less appealing.

The switch is easy in Tulum: many long-term listings are obviously former vacation rentals, with furniture, pool, gym and hotel-style common areas. Public data can't tell us how many units have switched, but the incentive is clearly there.

Does long-term renting now pay as much as Airbnb for a Tulum condo?

For many small condos, yes, or close to it, once Airbnb's costs are counted.

AirROI puts the average one-bedroom on Airbnb in Tulum at about MXN 113,000 of gross income for the year to September 2026 (around $6,080), at 31% occupancy. Two-bedrooms averaged about MXN 165,000. A tenant paying La Veleta's average apartment rent of MXN 16,724 brings in about MXN 200,700 a year (around $10,800). These are different units and different sources, so treat the comparison as a rough guide, not a like-for-like test.

Airbtics, which tracks listings differently, puts the median Tulum vacation rental at about MXN 231,000 a year (around $12,400), down 10.8% over three years, while its count of active listings more than doubled (+106.5%) and occupancy fell 20.4%. That's gross: out of it come cleaning, management, the income tax (platforms withhold 4% from hosts with a Mexican tax ID, and a non-resident owes 25% of gross rent), and utilities (AirROI estimates about 5% of bookings), plus the time it takes.

What to do as an owner: compare 12 months of your real booking statements, net of every cost, with one year of rent at your area's average. If the gap is small, a 12-month lease with a reliable tenant is often the better deal right now. As a tenant: owners in this position need you more than you need them, so make an offer.

Why is Tulum Airbnb occupancy up when owners earn less?

Because the number of active listings collapsed, not because demand boomed.

AirDNA shows occupancy up 17% to 46%, and average annual revenue per active listing up 60.5% to about $17,400 (MXN 324,000). On their own, those sound like a recovery.

But AirDNA's active listings fell 73.1% in a year, to about 3,608. With far fewer units counted, the survivors fill more nights. Meanwhile the nightly rate is down 23.6% and RevPAR is still down 10.7%, so revenue per available night is lower.

A drop in "active listings" doesn't mean thousands of condos vanished. Owners may have paused listings, switched platforms or moved to long-term tenants. Either way, the Airbnb numbers fit the softer rental story rather than contradicting it.

Will Quintana Roo's new Airbnb rules push more condos into long-term rentals?

Probably some, yes. Quintana Roo now requires state and municipal operating licences plus registration in the RETUR-Q tourism register, and wants platforms to show only registered listings.

The rules also ask for basic safety equipment: smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, a fire extinguisher and a first-aid kit. Guests pay a 6% lodging tax on platform stays in Tulum. For an owner already earning less per night, that's more paperwork and cost on a thinner margin.

Part of the 73.1% fall in AirDNA's active listings may come from owners who didn't want to comply. Some of those units end up in the long-term market, which adds supply in the same neighborhoods where rents are already falling.

What to do: if you rent long term, a furnished ex-Airbnb unit is often the best value, so ask whether the owner plans to go back to short-term rentals before you sign. If you own, check whether your building's rules (reglamento) allow short stays at all before budgeting the licence.

Are some Tulum neighborhoods still seeing rising rents?

Yes, a few. Region 15 is the clearest case among the larger apartment markets, and some tiny submarkets show big jumps.

Propiedades.com puts Region 15's average apartment rent at about MXN 18,700, up 6% since April 2025, with 83 listings.

Lúum Zama shows a much bigger 39.5% rise, to about MXN 16,200, but only 7 apartments sit behind that number. A handful of new luxury units entering or leaving the portal can swing it either way, so it's no evidence of a broad rebound.

For someone looking for a typical one- or two-bedroom apartment, the market is clearly softer than for someone hunting a high-end family house.

Can winter still make Tulum rents jump?

Yes. Winter can push up flexible leases, furnished monthly rentals and vacation homes sharply.

One local operator, for example, quoted a studio at about $500 a month for a four-month stay between May and November, against $725 for a comparable winter stay. That's a 45% seasonal premium. Its one-bedroom went from about $725 to $1,075.

Holiday villas swing far more around Christmas and New Year. A normal 12-month lease behaves differently.

So anyone comparing January monthly listings with September ones will see a big "rent increase" even while the annual market gets cheaper. The neighborhood trends over 18 months tell you more than a peak-season quote.

How much can you negotiate on a Tulum rent right now?

Quite a lot on a standard furnished condo, because many similar units are competing for the same tenants.

The best leverage is in La Veleta and Aldea Zama, where hundreds of apartments are listed. In October 2026, one long-term La Veleta tenant told El Imparcial her rent had been cut 40%, to MXN 15,000 a month (about $806), when she renewed. The area average is about MXN 16,700. You don't need the whole market to crash: five or six real alternatives are enough to challenge an asking price.

A 12-month tenant also offers what many owners now lack: certainty. No empty weeks, no cleaning turnovers, no platform hassle. Use that.

What to do before signing: compare at least five similar listings in the same area and offer near or below the area average; ask for 12 months at a fixed rent; ask who pays electricity (CFE), water and internet and get a recent bill; check the water and sewer connection in the building; expect a deposit of about one month plus a guarantor (fiador) or a rental insurance policy (póliza jurídica), and negotiate the second one if you can pay several months up front.

What would make Tulum rents start rising again?

Demand absorbing the existing condo glut faster than new projects and ex-Airbnb units reach the market.

Tourism would need to recover first: hotel occupancy back up for several quarters and airport traffic growing again. With Aeroméxico gone and Volaris leaving in early 2027, that isn't happening yet.

The housing market also has to clear stock. The gap between 13,266 homes under construction in 2023 and 1,711 sales in 2025 shows how far there is to go.

More permanent residents would help, and the airport and Tren Maya give Tulum long-term pull. But they'd need to fill thousands of investor units before landlords regain broad pricing power. Supply can also shrink on its own if owners sell or pull units off the market, as AirDNA's listing drop shows.

A strong winter can lift temporary rents. A broad rebound needs much more than one good season.

So, are rents still rising in Tulum?

No. Tulum rents are no longer rising broadly, and the apartment market is in a real correction.

Propiedades.com puts Tulum apartment rents 5.6% below April 2025. The drop shows up where renters have the most choice: Centro is down 13.7%, Aldea Zama 8.4%, La Veleta 5.7% and Tumben Kaa 5.6%.

There are exceptions. Region 15 is still rising, a few tiny submarkets show big gains, houses have fallen less overall, and winter can lift furnished rents by around 45%.

But the backdrop has turned. Tulum went from 1,466 homes under construction in 2017 to 13,266 in 2023, sales halved between 2023 and 2025, hotel occupancy fell 8.13 points in the first half of 2026, airlines are leaving, and AirDNA's nightly rate is down 23.6%.

Tulum can stay expensive without being a rising-rent market. Today the typical apartment renter has more choice and more leverage than during the boom, and landlords have to compete on price, quality and lease terms. Broad rent growth probably won't come back until Tulum absorbs a real share of its excess housing.