Verified 11 August 2026
What a purchase actually costs.
Everything above the sticker price, who conventionally pays it, and the lines foreign buyers most often miss.
Read this first
Percentages below are of the deed value — the figure written on the escritura — not what you negotiated verbally. Custom decides who pays what; law mostly doesn't. Every line here is negotiable, and in a soft market plenty of them get moved. Peso figures are indexed to a minimum wage that changes every January, and dollar equivalents move with the exchange rate. USD shown at approximately COP 3,157 per dollar as of 11 August 2026.
The line items
| Item | Typical cost | Usually paid by |
|---|---|---|
| Registration tax (registro) | ~1.0% | Buyer |
| Boleta fiscal / departmental stamp | ~0.67% | Buyer |
| Notarial fees (gastos notariales) | ~0.3% total | Split, often 50/50 |
| Estudio de títulos (title study) | COP 1.5–4M | Buyer |
| Lawyer, transaction oversight | 0.5–1% | Buyer |
| 4x1000 financial transaction levy | 0.4% per movement | Whoever moves the money |
| Retención en la fuente | 1% of deed value | Seller |
| Broker commission | ~3% | Seller |
What that adds up to
A buyer purchasing at a COP 600,000,000 deed value should plan for roughly COP 12–16 million in closing costs — call it 2 to 2.7% depending on how the notarial split lands and how thorough a legal review you commission. Paying for a more thorough title study is the cheapest insurance available in a market that sells no insurance.
The three that catch people
The 4x1000
Colombia levies 0.4% on financial movements. It applies each time money moves, not once per purchase, so a payment structured in several tranches is taxed several times. Structuring the transfer well is worth real money.
Administración
Not a closing cost, but the ongoing one people underestimate most. Amenity buildings in Medellín commonly run COP 250,000–550,000 a month, and towers with pools, gyms and 24-hour porterías sit at the top of that band or above it. Ask for the figure in writing before the promesa, and ask whether a cuota extraordinaria has been voted.
The deed-value temptation
Sellers frequently suggest recording a lower value on the escritura to reduce tax. It is a bad trade for a foreign buyer for three separate reasons: it inflates your future capital gain when you sell, it can compromise a visa application that is assessed on deed value, and the exposure sits with you. More on how deed value affects visa eligibility.
Want this run against a real number?
Send the price you're looking at and the city, and we'll come back with the buyer-side figure for that specific purchase.