2017 Update: Medellín Furnished Apartments Rental Costs
To more accurately answer the question about what the current Medellín furnished apartments rental costs are, with the help of my Colombian wife, we recently surveyed the rental costs of 350 available furnished apartments in several neighborhoods in Medellín.
We only looked in the five most popular neighborhoods for expats living in Medellín: El Poblado, Envigado, Laureles-Estadio, Sabaneta and Belén.
We also only included apartments that have hot water and Wifi available. Several hundred apartments in Medellín are listed on the Airbnb site. And we did not include apartments on the Airbnb site in our survey if they did not have positive ratings, as they are riskier to rent.
Without a surprise, most of the furnished apartments we found in Medellín are located in El Poblado – 70 percent of the furnished apartments we surveyed this year were found in El Poblado.
There are three main websites to find furnished apartment rentals in Medellín
- Airbnb – has several hundred furnished apartments in Medellín listed, but many of these have no ratings.
- Casacol – has >100 furnished apartments in Medellín listed.
- Apartment International – has many apartments listed.
Some furnished apartments are listed on one of the rental company websites as well as the Airbnb site. If an apartment is listed on more than one website we only included it once in our survey.
We also looked for furnished apartments on some Spanish language websites that cater to Colombians for our survey. However, be careful of apartments on Spanish language sites, some have not that many furnishings, some do not have hot water and some do not have Wifi.
Most furnished apartment rentals in Medellín are priced in U.S. dollars. For apartment rentals priced in pesos we used the exchange rate of 2,903 pesos to the U.S. dollar.
Some Initial Survey Findings
Pricing for some furnished apartments in Medellín increases during the popular times of the year such as Christmas, New Years and Feria de las Flores (the Medellín flower festival). We used the low season rental prices in our survey.
Most Medellín furnished apartments rentals we surveyed in the city have a minimum rental period of 1-3 days. But some Medellín furnished apartments we looked at have a minimum rental period of 30 days (less than 10 percent of the apartments surveyed).
For apartments with both daily and monthly rates, the longer-term monthly rate usually reflects a discount to the daily rate. Over 80 percent of surveyed apartments offer a discount for monthly rates compared to daily rates. The discounts for the monthly rate ranged from 3.3 up to 60 percent compared to the daily rate.
Most furnished apartment rentals in Medellín require a security deposit; 70 percent of the apartments we surveyed required a security deposit. The security deposit charges ranged from $98 to $1,030 and averaged $236.
Many furnished apartment rentals also require a cleaning fee; 78 percent of the apartments we surveyed had a cleaning fee listed. The cleaning fee ranged from $6 to $129 and averaged $26.
We didn’t include security deposits or cleaning fees in our below rental cost survey results.
El Poblado Furnished Apartments
El Poblado is the most popular neighborhood for foreigners living in or visiting Medellín. It is the most upscale neighborhood in the city and is where the most hotels and furnished apartments catering to foreigners are located.
In my first few visits to Medellín in 2007 to 2009, I rented furnished apartments in El Poblado.
El Poblado is primarily an Estrato 6 neighborhood with 74 percent of the households rated at Estrato 6. It is also where the most expensive real estate and most expensive apartment rentals in the city are located.
El Poblado survey of 246 furnished apartment rentals results:
- 132 apartments were 1-bedroom or studios with rents ranging from $29 to $132 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $871 to $3,770 per month.
- 56 apartments were 2-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $36 to $252 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $851 to $5,700 per month.
- 38 apartments were 3-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $47 to $278 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $980 to $6,670 per month.
- 20 apartments were 4-bedroom to 8-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $195 to $839 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $1,627 to $21,000 per month.
Average Furnished Apartment Rental Costs in El Poblado
Laureles-Estadio Furnished Apartments
Laureles-Estadio is likely the second most popular neighborhood for foreigners visiting Medellín. It is primarily a residential neighborhood with many areas with tree-lined streets and fewer high-rise apartments than are found in El Poblado.
Laureles-Estadio is primarily an Estrato 4/5 neighborhood with 99 percent of the households rated at Estrato 4 or 5.
Laureles-Estadio survey of 46 furnished apartment rentals results:
- 32 apartments were 1-bedroom or studios with rents ranging from $14 to $61 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $337 to $1,800 per month.
- Seven apartments were 2-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $34 to $63 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $750 to $1,349 per month.
- Seven apartments were 3-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $44 to $91 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $947 to $1,191 per month.
Average Furnished Apartment Rental Costs in Laureles-Estadio
Furnished Apartment Costs in Other Neighborhoods
Our survey also found furnished apartments in Envigado, Sabaneta and Belén with a summary of these results as follows:
Envigado is another popular neighborhood for foreigners visting and living in Medellín. It is less commercial than El Poblado and like Laureles-Estadio has many areas with tree-lined streets and fewer high-rise apartments than are found in El Poblado.
Envigado survey of 25 furnished apartment rentals results:
- Four apartments were 1-bedroom or studios with rents ranging from $15 to $76 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $328 to $2,294 per month.
- 10 apartments were 2-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $26 to $100 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $644 to $1,979 per month
- Eight apartments were 3-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $35 to $89 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $627 to $2,127 per month.
- Three apartments were 4-bedroom to 6-bedroom with daily rates of $40 and $139 and monthly rates of $1,075 and $5,675 per month.
Sabaneta is a separately administered municipality within the Medellín metro area that is rapidly becoming popular with expats. It is located directly south of Envigado. Sabaneta is much smaller than El Poblado with a population of about 55,000. I currently live in Sabaneta.
Sabaneta is primarily a residential community. In Sabaneta, you will find several neighborhoods similar to El Poblado with high-rise apartment buildings but they tend to be a bit more spread out. Also in Sabaneta you can find some quiet streets lined with one-story, two-story and three-story attached homes.
Sabaneta survey of 16 furnished apartment rentals results:
- Three apartments were 1-bedroom or studios with rents ranging from $29 to $49 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $707 to $1,024 per month.
- Seven apartments were 2-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $35 to $43 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $529 to $1,015 per month.
- Six apartments were 3-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $33 to $110 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $789 to $2,838 per month
Belén is a neighborhood that is increasing in popularity for foreigners living in Medellín. Belén is where I lived for about four years in three different barrios (Fatima, Loma de Los Bernal and Los Alpes). I rented a furnished apartment in Belén for three months as a trial of living in Medellín in 2010.
Belén is more of a working-class community with 98 percent of housing in Estrado 2 to 5 and only 2 percent in Estrato 1.
Belén survey of 17 furnished apartment rentals results:
- Eight of the apartments were a 1-bedroom with rents ranging from $18 to $49 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $483 to $1,176 per month.
- Five apartments were 2-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $24 to $55 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $691 to $1,315 per month.
- Four apartments were 3-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $35 to $58 per day. The monthly rates ranged from $836 to $1,391 per month.
Apartment buildings in El Poblado near Santafé mall
The Bottom Line
There is a wide range of Medellín furnished apartments available for rent ranging from economical to luxury. El Poblado is where most of the furnished apartments in Medellín are available but El Poblado is also where the most expensive real estate in the city is found.
Medellín furnished apartments are more expensive to rent on average in El Poblado than in the other areas of Medellín. You can save on a furnished apartment rental in an area outside of El Poblado, such as Laureles-Estadio, Envigado, Sabaneta or Belén.
There are now more Medellín furnished apartments available outside of El Poblado compared to our surveys in previous years. As a result, you now have more choices available.
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