Colombian Real Estate – Why So Cheap?
I recently purchased a penthouse apartment in Cali, Colombia for $400 USD per square meter.
That may mean nothing to you, unless I provide something to compare. Let’s look at some worldwide price averages…
- Italy = $8,000 per square meter
- France = $10,000 per square meter
- US = $17,000 per square meter
- UK = $23,000 per square meter
- Hong Kong = $25,000 per square meter
- Monaco = $50,000 per square meter
(All data taken from Global Property Guide)
So, I will repeat what I said in the beginning… I recently purchased a penthouse apartment in Cali, Colombia for $400 USD per square meter.
How can that be?
That is a MASSIVE price difference.
You literally cannot build the apartment I bought for the price I paid. I bought for less than the cost of construction… and that’s not even including the value of the land it’s sitting on.
And guess what’s around the corner from the apartment?
There’s a brand new Marriott hotel, an Intercontinental Hotel, and several five-star boutique hotels. There’s also lots of high-quality restaurants, coffee shops, parks, and everything else you’d want.
What I’m saying is that it’s a nice part of town and major companies are dropping serious money there.
I could go on and on about the other exciting things happening, but let me show you the apartment. We just started demo, so this is what it looks like, as of last week:
Demo underway.
But… my business partner owns the apartment right below this one. He already remodeled his and we are doing the exact same design. Here is what his looks like:
Kitchen.
One of three bathrooms.
One of three bedrooms.
One of three bathrooms.
One of three bedrooms.
One of three bathrooms.
One of three bedrooms.
Balcony overlooking the street with restaurants right around the corner.
Kitchen and dining room.
Living room.
Kitchen, dining and living room pano shot.
Back laundry room, with lots of extra space for storage or an office.
Pretty nice, right?
Oh, and this apartment yields real returns. With short term renters, yields can go well above 20%. (But that’s a lot of management and work.)
With long term renters, you’re looking at returns between 10% and 12%.
And guess what happens in a couple years when the outside world discovers this place?
Property prices are going to go up. And as property prices go up, rents will go up… which means our yield will go up as well.
So, until that time comes, we’re still going to make great returns on these properties.
And even if the property prices never go up, we’ll still get paid.
It’s an excellent investment!
So, why is Colombian real estate so cheap?
Perception.
I’m not going to pretend that Colombia is some perfect country with unicorns and gold plated streets.
But, it’s also not the hell-hole everyone thinks it is.
It has great weather, beautiful nature, friendly people, and a tremendously bright future ahead.
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By the way… I’m going to be investing A LOT more in Colombia (and other countries as well) and I’m taking other investors with me.
Here is the selfish truth: My investments will be more successful with other people investing with me. I can only get so much done on my own.
Other’s success will make me more successful, as it often takes a team to make real change.
