Gross rental profitability in 66 cities in Latin America and Portugal: where you pay the most to rent (October 2026)
Machine-assisted English version of the Spanish original by Aptología. All figures are locked to the original (numbers are copied, not re-translated); if in doubt, the Spanish original prevails.
Buying an apartment to rent it yields more in Punta del Este (Uruguay): a gross return of 13.5% annually, compared to 3.7% in Lisbon (Portugal), the lowest. In Bogotá, the gross profit implied is 8.0%; the median of 66 cities, 6.9%.
Abstract: We cross the rental and sale price per m² of 288,487 apartments in 66 cities.
Updated: 18 October 2026 (data from 18 October 2026) · Next update: monthly.
Summary
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Increased gross return | Punta del Este: 13.5% |
| Minor | Lisbon: 3.7% |
| Bogotá | 8.0% |
| Median cities | 6.9% |
Profitability by city
| Country | City | Gross return | Rental USD / m² / month | USD / m² sale | Announcements (rental / sale) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uruguay | Punta del Este | 13.5% | 40.6 | 3,604 | 1,964 / 4,562 |
| Venezuela | Maracaibo | 10.6% | 6.7 | 758 | 38 / 62 |
| Venezuela | Caracas | 10.4% | 12.1 | 1,400 | 326 / 1,464 |
| Paraguay | Luque | 9.4% | 11.0 | 1,410 | 47 / 74 |
| Colombia | Barranquilla | 8.9% | 10.6 | 1,424 | 3,694 / 7,532 |
| Ecuador | Quito | 8.7% | 7.2 | 1,000 | 1,167 / 2,240 |
| Paraguay | Assumption | 8.4% | 12.9 | 1,843 | 3,560 / 4,612 |
| Colombia | Mounting | 8.2% | 8.0 | 1,168 | 44 / 288 |
| Colombia | Bogotá | 8.0% | 15.2 | 2,282 | 12,954 / 31,265 |
| Dominican Republic | Santo Domingo | 7.9% | 11.7 | 1,769 | 3,410 / 7,645 |
| Colombia | Medellin | 7.9% | 15.5 | 2,356 | 20,068 / 20,515 |
| Colombia | Villavicencio | 7.8% | 8.5 | 1,321 | 74 / 347 |
| Colombia | Cali | 7.7% | 9.4 | 1,461 | 1,499 / 9,365 |
| Colombia | Bucaramanga | 7.6% | 9.3 | 1,466 | 416 / 2,439 |
| Colombia | The eyebrow | 7.6% | 11.7 | 1,861 | 354 / 312 |
| Mexico | Mexico City | 7.5% | 18.1 | 2,894 | 4,782 / 7,519 |
| Ecuador | Guayaquil | 7.5% | 8.5 | 1,364 | 1,231 / 915 |
| Colombia | Cucutta | 7.4% | 6.9 | 1,116 | 298 / 561 |
| Colombia | Beautiful | 7.3% | 10.5 | 1,716 | 1,082 / 2,319 |
| Colombia | Two-broken | 7.3% | 8.9 | 1,456 | 70 / 607 |
| Colombia | Piedecha | 7.3% | 7.0 | 1,151 | 57 / 246 |
| Colombia | Pereira | 7.3% | 10.5 | 1,728 | 1,530 / 4,376 |
| Colombia | Armenia | 7.3% | 10.1 | 1,675 | 337 / 2,278 |
| Colombia | Chia | 7.2% | 10.5 | 1,737 | 489 / 1,507 |
| Colombia | Cajicá | 7.2% | 10.7 | 1,782 | 385 / 1,517 |
| Colombia | The Star | 7.1% | 12.0 | 2,023 | 489 / 561 |
| Dominican Republic | Punta Cana | 7.1% | 15.0 | 2,525 | 93 / 442 |
| Colombia | Itagüí | 7.1% | 12.6 | 2,126 | 908 / 2,012 |
| Bolivia | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 7.0% | 7.3 | 1,241 | 947 / 1,679 |
| Colombia | Mosquera | 7.0% | 9.0 | 1,548 | 167 / 817 |
| Colombia | Envigado | 6.9% | 15.4 | 2,656 | 7,303 / 5,735 |
| Colombia | Jamundí | 6.9% | 6.5 | 1,125 | 107 / 466 |
| Colombia | Madrid | 6.9% | 6.5 | 1,134 | 259 / 475 |
| Colombia | Sabaneta | 6.9% | 12.9 | 2,237 | 3,868 / 4,375 |
| Peru | Callao | 6.9% | 6.5 | 1,146 | 31 / 121 |
| Colombia | Floridablanca | 6.8% | 9.2 | 1,626 | 357 / 919 |
| Colombia | El Carmen de Viboral | 6.8% | 8.0 | 1,406 | 102 / 90 |
| Colombia | Soacha | 6.8% | 6.0 | 1,066 | 128 / 566 |
| Colombia | Cartagena | 6.7% | 13.9 | 2,469 | 2,008 / 5,774 |
| Colombia | Manizales | 6.6% | 9.8 | 1,776 | 282 / 2,788 |
| Colombia | Puerto Colombia | 6.5% | 10.0 | 1,843 | 90 / 144 |
| Colombia | Ibagué | 6.4% | 7.1 | 1,332 | 249 / 1,217 |
| Colombia | La Calera | 6.4% | 9.8 | 1,833 | 51 / 139 |
| Colombia | The Retreat | 6.3% | 15.5 | 2,929 | 541 / 618 |
| Argentina | Buenos Aires City | 6.3% | 13.5 | 2,558 | 4,316 / 8,128 |
| Colombia | Palmira | 6.3% | 6.9 | 1,318 | 42 / 112 |
| Argentina | Tiger | 6.2% | 16.0 | 3,080 | 151 / 121 |
| Argentina | Cordoba | 6.2% | 9.4 | 1,813 | 216 / 188 |
| Colombia | Tocancipa | 6.2% | 5.9 | 1,145 | 94 / 264 |
| Colombia | Santa Marta | 6.2% | 14.1 | 2,740 | 674 / 3,779 |
| Colombia | Marinilla | 6.2% | 9.1 | 1,775 | 107 / 164 |
| Bolivia | Peace | 6.1% | 5.6 | 1,099 | 298 / 462 |
| Uruguay | Montevideo | 6.1% | 15.3 | 3,040 | 3,702 / 4,466 |
| Colombia | Rionegro | 6.1% | 11.8 | 2,337 | 3,179 / 3,023 |
| Colombia | Zipakirah | 6.0% | 6.9 | 1,372 | 168 / 819 |
| Argentina | San Isidro | 5.9% | 15.0 | 3,032 | 148 / 181 |
| Peru | Arequipa | 5.8% | 5.8 | 1,207 | 46 / 583 |
| Argentina | Vicente López | 5.7% | 17.0 | 3,600 | 168 / 157 |
| Argentina | Rosario | 5.6% | 8.9 | 1,895 | 129 / 33 |
| Dominican Republic | Santiago | 5.6% | 6.8 | 1,442 | 116 / 594 |
| Peru | Lima | 5.5% | 10.0 | 2,185 | 4,134 / 9,331 |
| Ecuador | Basin | 5.1% | 5.3 | 1,238 | 176 / 331 |
| Bolivia | Cochabamba | 4.9% | 4.0 | 971 | 91 / 366 |
| Chile | Santiago | 4.0% | 10.6 | 3,189 | 7,098 / 6,247 |
| Portugal | Port | 3.9% | 19.1 | 5,820 | 78 / 607 |
| Portugal | Lisbon | 3.7% | 25.8 | 8,383 | 491 / 1,548 |
Gross income = medium rental per m² × 12 ¬ medium price per m², both of apartments in the same city.
Frequently asked questions
In which city of Latin America does it pay more to buy to rent? In Punta del Este (Uruguay), with an implicit gross return of 13.5% per year.
How much does an apartment rent in Bogotá? The gross return is 8.0% per year, before HOA fee, taxes, vacations and maintenance.
What is gross profitability? The rent of a year divided by the purchase price, without discounting expenses. The net is usually 1 to 3 smaller points.
Methodology
- Source: night events of the Aptology database (aptologia.com) of 18 October 2026: current housing ads in real estate portals of 13 countries, collected by Aptology and seen online between 11 and 18 October 2026. Court: 18 October of 2026.
- Debugging: exact duplicates (same city, area, type, price, currency, area, rooms and bathrooms) and prices outside the percentile 1 - 99 of each country, operation, currency and type are removed; the price per m² uses only ads with declared area between 12 and 2,000 m² and is also cut to P1-P99.
- What is measured: prices ordered (published), not closing prices. For rent, monthly rent without HOA fee, common expenses or condo.
- Minimum sample: each published figure is based on at least 30 ads; cells with less are omitted.
- Coins: never mix different coin ads without converting them. Conversión a dólares con la tasa de mercado de ExchangeRate-API (open.er-api.com, actualización del 18 Oct 2026): 1 USD = 3,182.80 COP, 1 USD = 18.47 M.N, 1 USD = 5.09 BRL, 1 USD = 3.44 PEN, 1 USD = 982.44 CLP, 1 USD = 1,514.57 ARS, 1 USD = 40.20 UYU, 1 USD = 5,705.37 PYG, 1 USD = 61.27 DOP, 1 USD = 0.89 EUR, 1 USD = 11.72 BOB; la UF chilena a 41,178.64 CLP (mindicador,cl. 18-oct-2026). The ads published in dollars are used as they are.
- Gross return: medium rental per m² × 12 / medium price for sale per m² (apartments), by city. Compare medium of two different offers: it is an approximation, not the profitability of a particular building. In Argentina rents are usually published in pesos and sales in dollars; conversion uses the official rate cited.
- Limitations: The coverage depends on the portals that travel Aptology in each country and is greater in large cities and in the medium-high and high segments; the area is the one that declares the announcement, unverified; the area names come from the portals.
- Privacy: only aggregates are published; no personal data, link to ads or name of advertiser is published.
- Open data: datos.csv, CC BY license 4. 0.
How to quote
Pinzón Pineda, D. M. (2026). Gross rental profitability in 66 cities in Latin America and Portugal: where you pay the most to rent (October 2026). Aptology (aptologia.com). https://github.com/elbroker/aptologia-datos/tree/main/estudios/rentabilidad-bruta-alquiler-ciudades-latinoamerica-2026. Data: datos.csv, CC BY license 4. 0.
Sources and data
- DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23460712 (Zenodo)
- Original study (Spanish): Rentabilidad bruta del arriendo en 66 ciudades de Latinoamérica y Portugal: dónde rinde más comprar para arrendar (octubre 2026)
- GitHub (CSV, PDF): https://github.com/elbroker/aptologia-datos/tree/main/estudios/rentabilidad-bruta-alquiler-ciudades-latinoamerica-2026
- Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/datasets/aptologia/rentabilidad-bruta-alquiler-ciudades-latinoamerica-2026