San Miguel vs Surco: better rental investment? (2026)
n = 1,954 Airbnb listings · 2,039 sale listings · source: urbania.pe + airroi · as of 2026-09-17 · methodology →
San Miguel takes this on both counts, and the margin is small enough that you should not pretend it is a rout: about 5.3% net long-term against Surco's roughly 4.8%, and about 7.0% gross on Airbnb against roughly 6.4%. You are buying the cheaper district and getting the better yield. That combination is rarer than the brochures suggest.
The entry price is where San Miguel earns its keep. Median asking is about $1,717 per m² against about $1,758 in Surco, roughly 3.6% cheaper, or about $64 per m² less. On a 70 m² flat that is the difference between about $120,180 and about $123,650. Surco asks you to pay more for less return, and the gap is not explained by anything in the numbers here.
Read the cost model before you compare these to anything a broker shows you. The long-term figure subtracts property tax, arbitrios, rental income tax and a 3% vacancy allowance, and it does not subtract mantenimiento, because in a Lima long-term let the tenant pays that. The Airbnb figure subtracts the platform fee, host-paid utilities and internet, income tax, mantenimiento, property tax and arbitrios. Both assume you self-manage. Neither subtracts furnishing, cleaning, turnover or management fees, so do not treat either as a number that already covers those.
The honest caveat is that the Airbnb side is thinner than it looks. San Miguel's roughly 7.0% is gross, and it carries the costs a long-term let pushes onto the tenant, mantenimiento included. If you are not in Lima to run the flat yourself, the long-term tenant is the better trade, and San Miguel is where I would put the money.
Surco is not a bad district, it is just the more expensive way to earn less. If you already know the street and want to live in it, that is a different decision. For a foreign buyer running the numbers from abroad, San Miguel wins on yield and on price per square metre, and the case does not need dressing up.