2-bedroom apartment in Surco, Lima: yields (2026)
n = 840 Airbnb listings · 1,516 sale listings · source: urbania.pe + airroi · as of 2026-09-17 · methodology →
Airbnb wins on a 2-bed in Surco, and the margin is real: roughly 8.4% gross against about 6.2% long-term. That is the whole case in one line, and it is why I would not talk you out of the short-let here if you have the appetite for it.
Read the labels before you get excited. Both numbers are gross, so neither has had property tax, arbitrios or income tax taken off yet. The long-term figure also sits before a 3% vacancy allowance, and in a Lima long-term let the tenant pays mantenimiento, not you. The Airbnb figure is the one that has to carry mantenimiento, because no guest reimburses the host for it. Neither figure accounts for furnishing or fit-out, cleaning and turnover, or management fees, and I am not going to pretend they do.
The uncomfortable half is the work. Both of these assume the owner self-manages. On the long-term side that is a tenant, a contract and the occasional repair. On the Airbnb side it is calendars, guests, keys and a flat that has to be furnished before it earns anything. The roughly 8.4% is what the short-let pays you for taking that on.
So who does this suit? If you are in Lima, or you have someone here you trust, and you can stomach the setup cost and the churn, the 2-bed in Surco is a short-let. If you are buying from abroad and want the money to arrive without you touching it, take the tenant and the about 6.2% and sleep. The gap is roughly 2.3 percentage points, and that is your price for not being a host.
One caveat: these are approximate figures held steady between real moves, so treat them as a direction, not a quote. Nothing here is investment advice.