Medellín Airbnb Investment 2026: Costs, Rules & Long-Term Rental Fallback

Model a Medellín short-term rental with property-specific costs and operating assumptions, then compare its gross revenue with a dated long-term asking-rent reference. Colombia Bound supplies the reference asking data and transparent formulas. You must supply or verify the property terms, ADR, occupancy, fees, and expenses.

Complete the Medellín short-term rental legal checklist before treating any revenue scenario as usable. The calculator does not determine whether a home can legally operate as tourist accommodation.

How the calculator defines the acquisition basis

The acquisition basis is the purchase price plus the acquisition and closing costs you enter. Both the gross revenue yield and estimated net operating yield use this same denominator. The model is unlevered: financing costs, debt service, and lender fees are outside the calculation.

Annual gross STR revenue equals ADR × 365 × occupancy. ADR is a user-supplied amount per occupied night, and occupancy is a user-supplied percentage of the year. Colombia Bound does not publish proprietary Airbnb bookings, ADR, or occupancy data.

How operating costs and NOI are calculated

The model treats management and platform charges as additive percentages of gross STR room revenue. Confirm whether each quote uses that basis before entering it. Modeled stays equal occupied nights ÷ average stay. Cleaning cost equals modeled stays × cleaning cost per stay; the model does not assume that a cleaning fee is collected from the guest.

Fixed operating costs include administration, property tax, insurance, utilities, maintenance reserve, and other annual operating expenses. Estimated NOI equals annual gross STR revenue minus modeled operating costs. It is before financing, income tax, depreciation, appreciation, and sale costs.

Break-even occupancy divides fixed annual operating costs by 365 × the contribution per occupied night. That nightly contribution is ADR after the entered management and platform percentages, less cleaning cost allocated across the average stay. An output above 100% means the entered scenario cannot cover the modeled costs within one year. An unavailable output means the contribution per occupied night is zero or negative.

Read the long-term rental reference on the same basis

Choose a sufficiently sampled neighborhood in the calculator. Its monthly value is a median active long-term asking rent from the Medellín housing dataset and methodology, not a signed lease. The calculator annualizes that ask and divides it by your acquisition basis for the scenario’s long-term gross asking yield.

The final difference is gross-to-gross: annual STR room revenue minus annual long-term asking rent. It does not compare STR NOI with gross rent. A net long-term comparison would require separate assumptions for vacancy, leasing or management, administration, insurance, maintenance, property tax, and other costs.

Illustrative scenario — not market data

The calculator opens with a hypothetical set of editable STR inputs. These starting values are not a claim about Medellín, Airbnb, a neighborhood, or a particular home. Replace each one with a dated document, written service quote, property-manager record, or your own comparable research.

Use the scenario to test one variable at a time. Lower occupancy to see whether fixed carrying costs remain covered, increase the average stay to see how turnover cleaning changes, and replace the purchase and closing figures with the actual acquisition terms. Then compare the result with the selected long-term asking-rent reference instead of assuming tourist demand will continue.

Calculator-driven exercise

Build a downside case before a base case

Illustrative scenario — not market data

• Enter the price and closing costs from the candidate transaction rather than the example values.
• Enter only ADR and occupancy assumptions that you can explain with dated evidence, then save the source and date.
• Use written operating quotes and the property’s own bills for recurring costs.
• Select a sufficiently sampled neighborhood for the long-term comparison and note that its rent is an asking median.
• Reduce the uncertain revenue inputs or increase uncertain costs, record the result, and compare it with your base case.

Build an evidence file for every input

The calculator is most useful when each field has a source, date, scope, and owner. Keep the supporting item beside the model so a later review can distinguish a verified input from an assumption. A quote for another apartment, a platform screenshot without dates, or a building fee from an old listing may help form a question, but it should not be silently treated as the candidate property’s current cost.

• Purchase price: use the negotiated amount for the candidate transaction. A neighborhood median is context, not a substitute for the proposed contract.
• Acquisition and closing costs: obtain a property-specific estimate that states what is included, who pays each item, and when it is due. Do not apply one percentage to every transaction without review.
• HOA or administration: use the current charge for the unit and review approved budgets, meeting records, arrears, reserves, and assessments separately.
• Annual property tax estimate: use the current bill and ask a qualified adviser how a purchase or ownership change may affect planning. The calculator does not predict a tax result.
• Insurance: separate the policies relevant to the property and operation. Enter the annual amount only after confirming coverage period, limits, exclusions, and whether the quote is final.
• ADR and occupancy: use your own dated comparable research, manager records, or operating history with a clear unit type and period. A citywide tourism statistic cannot establish either input for one apartment.
• Average stay and cleaning: use booking history or a written operating plan for the same guest strategy. Confirm whether the cleaning quote is per turnover and whether linen, supplies, laundry, and taxes are included.
• Management and platform percentages: check the fee base and any separate fixed charges. The calculator applies both entered percentages to gross room revenue and does not infer taxes or pass-through charges.
• Utilities, maintenance reserve, and other expenses: use unit bills, building information, service quotes, and a documented reserve policy. Keep furnishing replacement, repairs, internet, consumables, licenses, accounting, and other relevant items visible instead of hiding them in an unexplained margin.

Stress-test the inputs that drive the result

A single output can conceal how quickly the result changes. Keep one base case for the inputs you consider supportable, then create a downside case for the values with the weakest evidence. The purpose is not to predict a worst year. It is to identify which assumptions can change the decision and which documents or quotes deserve more work.

Start with occupancy and ADR because they multiply each other. A lower value in either field reduces gross revenue, management fees, and platform fees, but fixed property costs remain. Then test average stay and cleaning together. A shorter average stay creates more modeled turnovers at the same occupied-night count, increasing cleaning cost when the owner pays per stay.

Test the purchase decision separately from the operating plan. A higher acquisition basis lowers both displayed yields without changing operating revenue. Higher administration, insurance, utilities, property tax, maintenance, or other expenses lower NOI and increase break-even occupancy. This separation helps show whether a weak result comes from the price paid, the revenue assumption, or carrying costs.

Do not solve a weak case by inserting a higher ADR or occupancy without new evidence. Record why each changed value is plausible, who supplied it, and how recent it is. If the outcome depends on one unsupported assumption, the next task is verification rather than another calculation.

Interpret NOI, yield, and break-even together

Annual gross STR revenue describes room revenue before operating costs. Gross revenue yield divides that amount by acquisition basis. It is useful for checking the scale of revenue against the capital entered, but it is not a profit margin and does not show financing or taxes.

Estimated NOI subtracts the operating costs included in the model. Estimated net operating yield divides that NOI by the same acquisition basis. Because the model does not include every possible property or owner expense, the word “estimated” matters. Add relevant recurring costs to the appropriate input instead of assuming the displayed NOI is cash available to the owner.

Break-even occupancy answers a narrower question: what occupancy would cover the modeled fixed costs after the entered variable fees and cleaning allocation? Read it beside the contribution per occupied night embedded in the formula. A low ADR, high revenue-based fees, high cleaning cost, or short stay can leave little contribution for fixed costs. Break-even does not establish that the required occupancy can be achieved.

The three outputs answer different questions. Gross yield frames revenue against acquisition basis. Net operating yield reflects the costs entered. Break-even occupancy shows how much modeled use is needed to cover those costs. A decision should not rely on whichever one looks strongest.

Use the long-term reference as a comparison point

The selected neighborhood value is a current asking-market reference, not a promise for the candidate apartment. Check whether the candidate is reasonably comparable in size, condition, furnishing, parking, administration-fee treatment, and exact location. The neighborhood table retains sale and rent samples and active-listing ages so you can judge the evidence behind the median.

Treat long-term renting as a separate operating path. It may involve vacancy, leasing, management, administration fees, insurance, maintenance, property tax, and other costs that are not modeled in the gross comparison. It may also require a different furnishing, contract, or property-management plan. Obtain the relevant quotes and professional review before calling it viable.

The gross-to-gross difference can still support a useful question: how much more room revenue does the STR scenario assume before its additional operating work and costs? If that difference is small, uncertain, or dependent on aggressive inputs, the long-term path may deserve closer analysis. If it is large, the result still does not prove demand, legality, or net performance.

Update the reference when the dataset date, candidate property, or operating plan changes. An asking-rent median observed today should not remain in a model indefinitely without a new check.

What the output cannot establish

The calculator cannot establish permission, tax treatment, future demand, appreciation, achievable ADR, achievable occupancy, resale value, or a final return. It also does not diagnose a building’s physical condition or future assessments. Those require separate legal, financial, and physical review.

Use the Medellín neighborhood guide to understand the exact area around a candidate address, then continue with the broader Medellín real estate investment guide for acquisition, financing, ownership, and exit-planning checks.