Tulum, Quintana Roo — Vacation rental demand in Tulum has dropped between 15 and 28 percent, driven by an oversupply of apartments and condominiums built in recent years, according to Juan Chiriboga, director of real estate firm Riviera Colibrí.
Chiriboga said the market for vertical developments is now saturated, creating fierce competition among owners and investors vying for a similar number of visitors. The oversupply has hurt occupancy rates and projected income for those who bet on the rental model.
“There is an oversupplied market in the vertical segment, that is definitely a fact. We are talking about apartments and condominiums,” Chiriboga said. He noted that Tulum once had more than 11,000 active units on vacation rental platforms, a figure that outpaced the growth in tourist demand.
Despite the drop in bookings, property values have not fallen broadly, Chiriboga said. Prices remain relatively stable, though some developers and real estate agencies have started offering discounts of 5 to 15 percent, depending on the project.
Chiriboga described the situation as a natural market correction after years of rapid expansion in condo construction aimed at investors. The main challenge now, he said, is absorbing existing inventory and recovering the demand levels that fueled the destination’s real estate boom amid increasingly intense competition for guests and buyers.
