In Tulum almost every salesperson repeats the same line: buy pre-sale, that’s where the upside is. Sometimes that’s true. What almost never gets said is that pre-sale “charges” its discount in time, risk, and rent you don’t collect—and in a market with as much finished product as Tulum has today, resale often works out better. Here are the numbers from our own inventory so you can decide.
What we have for sale in Tulum today
We counted the listings published on our site on September 29, 2026. Of the
46 properties in Tulum, 26 are resales: condos
and houses already built, deeded, and in most cases ready to live in or
to rent.
- Of the 25 with a listed price, they range from 89.390 to 899.000
dollars. - The median is 160.000 dollars.
- 21 of the 25 are priced under 250.000 dollars.
- Across the 24 under 300 m², price per square meter runs from 1.160 to
3.548 dollars, with a median of 2.169.
By area, the resale median per square meter comes out around 1.860
dollars in Aldea Zamá and 2.030 in La Veleta, and climbs to about
2.300 in RegiĂłn 15, where there are still too few units to draw
firm conclusions. In short: there’s finished product, in the most sought-after areas, at
prices that pre-sale truly has to compete with.
Yesterday’s pre-sales are today’s resales
Our catalog still shows ten listings from developments that were sold
in pre-sale at the time. Their promised delivery dates ranged from December 2019
to June 2022. All those dates have now passed, and several of those same
buildings now appear in our inventory—but as resales.
The clearest case is Aldea Savia. In pre-sale it was advertised “from
1.685.000 pesos,” with sizes starting at 48,80 m²: roughly 34.500 pesos per square meter in the
smallest unit. Today, unit D35, at 134 m², is reselling at 3.990.000
pesos: about 29.800 pesos per square meter.
It’s not a clean comparison, and it’s worth saying so: a “from” price is always the
cheapest unit in the project, and larger units usually come out cheaper per meter. But it
does show what matters: years after pre-sale, you can buy in that same
building, already finished and operating, without paying more per square meter than someone who bought off
plans. The buyer back then waited through construction, took the risk, and earned no rent
during the build. The buyer today sees what they’re buying.
What a pre-sale really costs
The pre-sale discount is real. What the brochure doesn’t show is what you pay
in exchange:
- Time without rent. A build in Tulum typically takes 18 to 36 months
from reservation to delivery. During that period your capital earns nothing. If the
finished condo could have rented even at a modest net yield, those two or three years of
lost rent eat up much of the discount. - Delays. Delivery dates slip. Each quarter of delay is another quarter
with no rent, your money tied up, and no easy way to sell. - Execution risk. Finishes that don’t match the renderings, amenities
that get trimmed, permits that stall. In resale you review what exists; in pre-sale,
what someone promises. - Competition at delivery. When the building is delivered, dozens of
buyers go out to rent or resell at the same time, in the same building, with near-identical
units. It’s the worst time to have to sell. - Paperwork. In pre-sale you sign a promise-to-purchase agreement, not a
deed. The deed comes at the end. In resale, the deed exists and can be reviewed
before paying a peso.
What resale gives you that pre-sale doesn’t
- Real numbers. A condo that’s already renting has a track record:
occupancy, nightly rate, actual maintenance fee, and management cost. In pre-sale, all of
that is the developer’s projection. - Income from the first month. If it’s furnished and live on
platforms, it can start generating in weeks, not years. - The building is visible. How the finishes have aged, how the
condominium is managed, whether the pool is maintained, and who the neighbors are. You won’t
see that in a render. - Room to negotiate. A private seller who wants out negotiates. A
developer with a price list, much less.
When pre-sale does make sense
To be fair, there are cases where pre-sale wins:
- When you don’t need the capital or the rent in the next three years and
you’re aiming for long-term appreciation. - When the developer has verifiable deliveries in Tulum, on time
and as promised. A track record in another city isn’t enough. - When the discount versus a comparable resale is wide. As a rough
guide, if the pre-sale price per square meter isn’t at least between
15% and 25% below a similar finished unit in the same area, the discount doesn’t
compensate for the time and risk. - When you get in at the first phase of a project with a staggered
payment plan and full documentation from the start: building permit, land use/zoning, and
condominium regime.
If these conditions aren’t met, pre-sale isn’t a smarter investment: it’s a
longer bet.
The math worth doing before you decide
Put a comparable pre-sale and resale side by side, same area, same square
meters and same number of bedrooms, and ask four questions:
- How much cheaper is the pre-sale price per square meter, in percentage terms?
- How many months until delivery, and how much has this developer delayed
before? - How much would the finished unit rent for during those months, after maintenance and
management? - If construction runs a year late, does the math still work?
If the discount minus the lost rent still tilts in favor of pre-sale, go ahead. If
not, the finished unit is the better deal even if the list price is higher.
Why almost nobody frames it this way
Because pre-sale is what pays the highest commission and buys the most advertising. That’s why
Google is full of content recommending it. In our own Search Console, the query
«departamentos en preventa como inversión» showed us 192 times in the last 16 months:
people are asking for it. The honest answer is that it depends on the numbers, and today’s
resale numbers in Tulum are better than the brochure suggests.
Compare before you reserve
If you’re being offered a pre-sale in Tulum, write to us with the
proforma and we’ll line up comparable finished units we have in the same
area, with their price per meter and what they rent for. That way you decide with both options in
front of you, not just one.
Inventory figures taken from our catalog on September 29, 2026; prices in pesos were
converted to dollars at 17,90 pesos per dollar. Construction timelines, the pre-sale
discount range, and the medians by area are indicative: they vary by development, phase,
and unit type, and this article does not replace the review of a notary or a financial
advisor.
VersiĂłn en español: En Tulum, la preventa no siempre es mejor negocio que la reventa · VersĂŁo em portuguĂŞs: Em Tulum, comprar na planta nem sempre Ă© melhor que a revenda · Version française: Ă€ Tulum, l’achat sur plan n’est pas toujours meilleur que la revente
