Key takeaways
- Budget about 2 percent of the price in buyer closing costs: notary 0.27 percent, registry 0.67 percent and beneficencia 1 percent, plus your lawyer's fee.
- Many Cartagena buildings have voted to prohibit or restrict rentals under 30 days.
- Annual property tax (predial) runs 0.3 to 1.2 percent of the cadastral value, depending on the municipality.
- In Antioquia, an apartment starts at about US$98K with a typical asking price near US$201K.
- About 30 to 45 days from agreed deal to registered deed.
A foreign buyer can own a Cartagena condo outright on a passport alone, no residency required, and closing takes 30 to 45 days once the price is agreed. The document that decides whether you buy is the reglamento de propiedad horizontal, not the view. Read it before the deed, because it governs short-term rental, fees and what you may renovate.
Checklist · Before you sign a promesa
The 12 documents I check on every deal
Tick them off as you collect them. Saved on this device.
Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro, online; valid 30 days
The notaría where it was signed; ask for a certified copy
The municipality's tesorería or hacienda office
The building's or gated community's administración
From the seller; the RUT downloads from the DIAN site
Granted at a notaría, or at a consulate if the seller is abroad
Printed on the predial bill, or from the municipal catastro
In the deed and on the cadastral record
Latest paid bills from EPM or the local operator
Declared before the notary in the deed itself
Drafted by your lawyer or agent; never sign the seller's version unread
Curaduría urbana or the municipal planning office
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Where each document comes from
- Certificado de tradición y libertad: Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro, online; valid 30 days
- Prior deed: The notaría where it was signed; ask for a certified copy
- Property-tax good standing: The municipality's tesorería or hacienda office
- HOA good standing, if applicable: The building's or gated community's administración
- Seller's ID / RUT: From the seller; the RUT downloads from the DIAN site
- Power of attorney, if the seller is represented: Granted at a notaría, or at a consulate if the seller is abroad
- Cadastral appraisal: Printed on the predial bill, or from the municipal catastro
- Survey and boundaries: In the deed and on the cadastral record
- Utilities up to date: Latest paid bills from EPM or the local operator
- Family-home protection certificate: Declared before the notary in the deed itself
- Promesa de compraventa draft: Drafted by your lawyer or agent; never sign the seller's version unread
- Building permit, if applicable: Curaduría urbana or the municipal planning office
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What a foreigner actually has to do
There is no permission to obtain. Foreigners own property in Colombia on the same legal footing as Colombians, with a passport. The sequence is short and it does not change by city:
- Pull the certificado de tradición y libertad using the property's registry number (matrícula inmobiliaria). It names the registered owner and lists mortgages, liens, embargoes and encumbrances. Nothing else you are told about the property outranks this document.
- Check that the seller on that certificate is the person signing. In older walled-city buildings, ownership often sits with an estate or several heirs, and every one of them has to sign.
- Sign a promesa de compraventa that states the price in Colombian pesos, the closing date, the deposit and who pays what.
- Bring the funds in through the formal exchange market so the investment is registered. This is the step that lets you take sale proceeds out later. Set it up before you wire anything.
- Sign the escritura pública before a notary, then register it at the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos. Until the deed is registered, you are not the owner against third parties. The notary signature alone is not ownership.
Budget about 2 percent of the price in buyer closing costs: notary 0.27 percent, registry 0.67 percent and beneficencia 1 percent, plus your lawyer's fee. Prices are quoted and settled in pesos. Any US-dollar figure, including the ones in this article, is an approximation at the day's market rate.
The mistake that costs Cartagena buyers the most
Buying the apartment and ignoring the building. Apartments in Colombia sit under propiedad horizontal: a condominium regime with a monthly administration fee, a reglamento and an assembly that votes. Three things in that regime decide whether your Cartagena purchase works.
Short-term rental permission. Many Cartagena buildings have voted to prohibit or restrict rentals under 30 days. The reglamento and the recent assembly minutes (actas) tell you. If your plan is nightly rental and the building says no, the plan is dead on the day you sign, and no agent's reassurance changes that.
The administración and its arrears. Ask for the paz y salvo confirming the unit owes nothing, and ask for the building's budget. In sea-front towers, the fee covers salt-air maintenance, lifts, pumps and security, and it is a real monthly number that eats into yield. A cheap unit in a building with a deferred façade repair is not cheap.
Extraordinary assessments (cuotas extraordinarias). Salt corrodes. Assemblies vote one-off levies for structural and façade work. Read the last two or three actas to see what is coming.
In the historic centre, add one more: properties inside the walled city and Getsemaní fall under heritage protection, which restricts what you may alter on façades and in protected interiors. Verify the status before you plan a renovation.
What you will pay afterwards
Annual property tax (predial) runs 0.3 to 1.2 percent of the cadastral value, depending on the municipality. Capital gains on a sale are taxed at 15 percent when you held the property two years or more, which is why the holding period belongs in your plan from the start.
On the income side, long-term rentals in Colombia have yielded 5 to 9 percent gross a year and short-term rentals 8 to 15 percent gross. Those are gross figures, before administración, predial, management and vacancy. Appreciation nationally has historically run 7 to 8 percent a year: that is history, not a forecast.
Mortgages are the other realistic constraint. Foreign buyers without Colombian residency and local credit history generally do not get bank financing here. Plan on paying cash or financing against an asset at home.
Should Cartagena be the purchase at all?
Compare what the same money buys inland before you commit. In Antioquia, an apartment starts at about US$98K with a typical asking price near US$201K. In Guatapé and El Peñol, an apartment starts around US$91K and typically asks about US$161K, while a finca starts near US$237K against roughly US$275K across Antioquia. Buyers who want a lake or mountain alternative to the coast, with cooler weather and lower maintenance than a salt-air tower, often end up comparing a Cartagena condo against an Oriente Antioqueño apartment.
If you are weighing both, start with buying property in Colombia, then look at Colombia real estate for what each region's inventory actually looks like, and moving to Colombia if you intend to live here part of the year.
How we knowFigures as of November 5, 2026. Prices: active listings we verified ourselves; USD rate: TRM 3,221.19 COP per US$1, valid November 5, 2026 (Banco de la República, via datos.gov.co).
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner buy a condo in Cartagena without residency?
Yes. Foreigners own property in Colombia outright with a passport, and no residency or visa is required to buy. You sign the public deed before a notary and register it at the property registry. Until registration, you are not the owner against third parties.
How long does it take to close on a Cartagena apartment?
About 30 to 45 days from agreed deal to registered deed. The timeline covers the certificate of tradition and freedom, the promesa de compraventa, bringing funds through the formal exchange market, the notary signing and registration.
What are the closing costs for a foreign buyer?
Roughly 2 percent of the purchase price: notary 0.27 percent, registry 0.67 percent and beneficencia 1 percent, plus your lawyer's fee. Prices settle in Colombian pesos; any dollar figure is an approximation at the day's market rate.
Can I rent my Cartagena condo on Airbnb?
Only if the building allows it. Propiedad horizontal rules let an assembly restrict or prohibit rentals under 30 days. Read the reglamento and the recent assembly minutes before signing. Short-term rentals in Colombia have yielded 8 to 15 percent gross, before costs.
What taxes will I pay as an owner?
Annual property tax runs 0.3 to 1.2 percent of cadastral value depending on the municipality. On sale, capital gains are taxed at 15 percent if you held the property two years or more. Monthly administración fees are separate and set by the building.
