Barranco vs Jesús María: better rental investment? (2026)
n = 2,085 Airbnb listings · 711 sale listings · source: urbania.pe + airroi · as of 2026-09-17 · methodology →
Jesús María takes this one on both lines: about 5.1% net long-term against Barranco's roughly 4.7%, and about 7.1% gross on Airbnb against Barranco's near 6.2%. It also costs less to get into, at a median of about $2,110 per m2 against roughly $2,545 in Barranco. If you are buying from abroad and want the numbers to do the arguing, that is the whole case.
The long-term figure subtracts property tax, arbitrios, rental income tax and a 3% vacancy allowance. It does not subtract mantenimiento, because in a Lima long-term let the tenant pays that, not you. The Airbnb figure subtracts the platform fee, host-paid utilities and internet, income tax, mantenimiento, property tax and arbitrios. Neither figure subtracts furnishing, cleaning or management fees, because the owner self-manages on both sides. Read the two columns with that in mind and the gap is real, not an artefact.
Barranco is the more expensive mistake here: you pay about 17.7% more per square metre, roughly $449 more, for a lower net yield. What you are buying with that premium is a district with more tourist pull and a deeper short-let market, and the Airbnb numbers do not reward it — Jesús María is ahead there too, by about 0.9 percentage points gross. If you are set on Barranco, be honest that you are paying for the address, not the return.
On a typical 70 m2 unit the entry ticket is roughly $178,125 in Barranco against about $147,693 in Jesús María. That is the number that matters most to a foreign buyer wiring money in, because it is the one you cannot finance your way around. The cheaper district also yields more. That combination does not come along often, and it is why I would not talk myself into Barranco on lifestyle grounds.
Two caveats. These are approximations held steady between real moves, so the tables on the page may show slightly different exact values. And the Airbnb side assumes you self-manage and run it well; the gross figures do not subtract cleaning, turnover or furnishing, which on a short-let you will pay. If you will not do that work, the long-term let in Jesús María is the cleaner trade. Not investment advice.