Medellín POT Short-Term Rentals 2026: What the Vote Changes

Quick answer: On Monday, October 19, the Comisión Primera of Medellín’s city council voted 7-0 to approve the mid-term revision of the city’s land-use plan (POT). For short-term rentals, the revised plan would confine tourist housing to specific high-mix and some medium-mix areas; the city says it has never been allowed in low-mix residential zones under the current plan. Nothing changes yet: the bill still needs a second and final vote in the full council and then the mayor’s sanction.

What the committee approved

All seven members of the Comisión Primera voted in favor, El Colombiano reports. Vivir en El Poblado adds that the debate ran more than eight hours, and that the bill is Proyecto de Acuerdo 104 de 2026, a revision covering the next twelve years. Councilor Andrés Tobón Villada is the lead rapporteur, per the same outlet.

Key numbers, as reported:

• About 78% of the articles in the 2014 POT would change. Roughly 22% stays, including soil classification and protection zones (El Colombiano).
• 41 amendments were approved, and the modification document runs 748 pages (Vivir en El Poblado).
• Of 220 proposed amendments, 9 were accepted, 32 partially accepted, 54 were already in the text and 125 were rejected (El Colombiano).

What the POT revision means for short-term rentals

The Alcaldía’s own figures, from a Planeación press release of September 24, 2026, are specific:

• Medellín currently has 8,322 registered tourist dwellings (viviendas turísticas). Telemedellín reports the same number.
• City simulations identified 16,232 potential lots for new tourist-housing construction, with capacity for up to 179,521 units. Telemedellín describes this as a theoretical supply about 20 times the current one.

Read that second figure as zoning capacity, not a forecast. It shows how much the plan could physically accommodate, not how many units will be built or converted. We did not find the simulation’s methodology published.

The Alcaldía also stresses that the revision does not create a new ban. Tourist housing is regulated under the current plan, Acuerdo 48 de 2014, and “nunca ha estado permitida en las zonas de baja mixtura, donde prevalece el uso residencial” (it has never been allowed in low-mix zones, where residential use prevails), per the same release. El Colombiano reports that the new plan would concentrate tourist housing in high-mix zones and in vocation areas next to metro stations, without naming specific stations or barrios. Vivir en El Poblado describes platform rentals as limited to zones of high land-use mix.

The sector disagrees. Asohost, the association of short-term rental providers, argues the draft significantly restricts where the activity can operate and that in some areas it would be prohibited, La República reports. The platforms call the rules controversial and a risk to the economy, while Planeación says the goal is to protect residential zones and bring order to the sector. Mayor Federico Gutiérrez said tourism should grow “de forma ordenada” and called for “Medellín primero para su gente.”

Can I still run an Airbnb in Medellín?

• In high-mix zones and areas next to metro stations? That is where the draft concentrates the activity, according to the sources above. Exact polygons depend on the final text and maps.
• In low-mix residential zones? Not under the city’s reading of the current plan, and the draft does not change that.
• When do new rules take effect? Not before the full-council vote and sanction. Until then, the 2014 plan applies.
• Should hosts or buyers act now? Check your property’s zoning classification with Planeación before committing money, and treat the draft as provisional.

Why it matters if you rent or buy

Gutiérrez has argued that new housing is a top priority and that the 2014 plan restricted supply (El Colombiano). Our earlier report on how new housing construction has stalled since 2014 covers that supply problem and the 16% housing deficit. The tension is straightforward: zoning that makes tourist rentals easier to run in more places could compete with long-term residential rentals. Nothing in the sources we reviewed quantifies the effect on rents, so we are not predicting one.

If you are weighing a purchase, this week’s Salón del Inmueble at El Tesoro is a place to ask developers how they read the new zoning. Rules can still change in the plenary, so treat any promise based on the draft as provisional.

What happens next

The bill goes to the council plenary for its second debate. Vivir en El Poblado gives Wednesday, November 4, 2026. El Colombiano says only “in the coming days,” and we found no official council calendar confirming a date. Check the Concejo de Medellín agenda before planning around it.

Urbanists quoted by El Colombiano warn that many polygons would drop the plan parcial (a lot-assembly planning tool) in favor of lot-by-lot development; the Alcaldía says public space and orderly growth are not at risk.

A separate fight: street prostitution and the tutela

The same bill includes a proposal by Councilor Tobón to restrict sexual exploitation in public space, which the sex workers’ association Asocoltrasexa challenged with a tutela admitted on October 16; the court declined to suspend the October 19 debate, per El Colombiano. Admission is not a ruling on the merits, and our sources do not show the outcome.

This report summarizes press coverage as of October 23, 2026; we have not read the 748-page bill itself. Tourist-housing figures come from the Alcaldía de Medellín and Telemedellín.