Medellín Is Now Antioquia’s Airbnb Capital, With Hosts Earning US$133 Million a Year

Colombia · Tourism

Medellín’s transformation into a magnet for foreign visitors now has a price tag. Medellín Airbnb hosts earned some 435 billion pesos (roughly US$133 million) in 2025, cementing the city as Antioquia’s short-term-rental capital.

That figure is the lion’s share of the roughly 552 billion pesos (about US$169 million) earned by hosts across the department, according to Portafolio. The city alone bills an estimated 76 billion pesos (about US$23 million) a month in rentals.

A city in the global short-stay league

Medellín’s density of listings, about 4.07 for every 1,000 residents, places it alongside established European tourism cities such as Madrid, Stockholm and Athens. Neighbourhoods like El Poblado and Laureles have become the visible face of that boom, packed with apartments turned over to visitors.

For a city that spent decades rebuilding its image, the influx is a mark of success. It also brings the familiar strains of over-tourism: pressure on housing, rising rents and tension between residents and short-stay guests.

To understand the scale, it helps to know that Antioquia is one of Colombia’s 32 departments, with Medellín as its bustling capital. The department’s mountainous terrain and spring-like climate have long drawn domestic travellers, but the international short-term-rental surge is a more recent chapter.

Platforms like Airbnb connect local hosts directly with a global audience, bypassing traditional hotel infrastructure and often operating in residential zones that were never designed for commercial lodging. That blurring of lines sits at the heart of the regulatory puzzle.

The informal-market problem

Much of the activity sits outside official oversight. Antioquia counted around 59,871 registered tourist homes as of last year, yet some 90,710 units were being offered through digital platforms, a sizeable slice of the market operating off the books.

The hotel association Cotelco estimates that under-registration exceeds 40% of real supply nationally.

That gap matters for tax, safety standards and fair competition with hotels, and it is the crux of a policy debate Colombia has yet to resolve.

Registration is not just paperwork. Colombia’s national tourism registry requires hosts to meet basic safety, insurance and tax obligations.

When a property stays off the register, local authorities lose visibility over guest flows and neighbourhood impact. For formal hotels, which must comply with stricter licensing and pay industry-specific levies, the imbalance can feel like an uneven playing field.

For guests, an unregistered listing may lack the fire-safety checks or liability coverage that a regulated accommodation provides. The sheer gap between registered and advertised units suggests that enforcement remains a persistent challenge, not just in Medellín but across many Colombian cities experiencing a tourism boom.

Why it matters for visitors and residents

For travellers, Medellín’s rental abundance means choice and value. For residents, it increasingly means a housing market shaped by tourists.

How the city balances the two will determine whether the boom stays an asset or becomes a grievance.

The tension is not unique to Medellín. Cities from Barcelona to Mexico City have wrestled with similar growing pains, often responding with licence caps, zoning changes or mandatory data-sharing agreements with platforMs Medellín’s path is still being written.

What to watch next is whether local authorities move toward tighter registration enforcement, and whether the national government steps in with a unified framework. Another open question is how hosts themselves will react if new rules raise the cost of doing business.

The answers will shape not only the rental market but also the character of the neighbourhoods that have come to define Medellín’s global appeal.

More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

How big is Medellín’s Airbnb market?

Hosts earned about 435 billion pesos (roughly US$133 million) in 2025, most of Antioquia’s total of some 552 billion pesos (about US$169 million), with the city billing an estimated 76 billion pesos (about US$23 million) a month.

How does it compare globally?

With about 4.07 listings per 1,000 residents, Medellín is comparable to cities such as Madrid, Stockholm and Athens.

What is the concern?

Much of the market operates outside the official tourism register. Around 59,871 tourist homes were registered in Antioquia against some 90,710 offered on platforms, and Cotelco estimates national under-registration above 40%.