Global Property Guide ranks the city of Santo Domingo among the most profitable urban areas in the region for residential rental investment
SANTO DOMINGO. – The April 2026 update of “Best Places to Invest in Real Estate: Rental Yields Compared” places the Dominican Republic among the highest-yielding residential real estate markets in the Americas and clearly above several larger Latin American economies.
The financial and investment information portal Global Property Guide reports an average gross rental yield of 8.53% for the Caribbean nation, higher than that of Brazil (5.71%), Mexico (6.06%), Panama (6.94%), Chile (4.81%), Uruguay (5.03%) and Argentina (5.09%).
This means that, according to GPG's comparative methodology, a residential investor obtains proportionally more annual rental income in the Dominican Republic than in most of the Latin American markets evaluated.
But the Dominican Republic's positioning is not solely explained by high yields. The key takeaway from the report is the combination of variables. GPG shows that the Dominican Republic simultaneously maintains:
- high rental yields (8.53%));
- nominal growth of real estate prices;
- income growth;
- and sustained demand in urban and tourist areas.
And that's where the difference lies. In several international markets, high yields tend to appear in economies with real estate depreciation, oversupply, or falling prices, but in the Dominican case, GPG simultaneously registers a nominal increase in housing prices of 10.25% in 2025, real growth adjusted for inflation of 5.05%, and a cumulative expansion of rents over five years of 17.10%.
In other words, the report does not present the Dominican Republic as a cheap market with high returns due to economic weakness, but as a still expanding market where real estate appreciation and rental profitability coincide.
Furthermore, within the country itself, GPG identifies Santo Domingo as one of the urban centers with the highest residential returns. The January 2026 update on rental yields places the capital's gross average at 9.08%, with two-bedroom apartments reaching up to 9.77%.
Another important point of the ranking is that the Dominican Republic maintains these levels of return even with relatively high mortgage rates, 11.93% according to GPG, something that the report compares with markets where credit is cheaper but rental profitability is lower.
In strictly comparative terms, what places the Dominican Republic in a strong position within the GPG ranking is the combination of high gross yield with sustained price growth, increased rents, active residential and tourist demand, and consistent performance in long-term series.
Tourism, remittances and foreign investment
Recent data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic helps contextualize the real estate behavior described by Global Property Guide. According to the preliminary report on the Dominican economy for January-December 2025, the country recorded:
- US$11,318.5 million in tourism revenue;
- US$11,866.3 million in remittances;
- and US$5,032.3 million in foreign direct investment (FDI).
The Central Bank also reported year-on-year growth of 10.3% in remittances; an increase of 11.3% in FDI and an expansion of 14.4% in total exports during 2025, variables that are relevant to the real estate market because remittances sustain residential demand and domestic consumption; tourism drives short and medium-term rentals and foreign investment fuels both real estate development and property purchases.
Global Property Guide does not attribute direct causality in its ranking, but it does incorporate variables of rent and price behavior that partially reflect these macroeconomic dynamics.
High interest rates have not slowed performance
Another element included in the comparative report is the average mortgage rate. For the Dominican Republic, Global Property Guide reports a rate of 11.93%, one of the highest in the international sample.
Even so, GPG maintains that the market continues to offer high returns. Comparatively, the investor information portal shows that several countries with lower mortgage rates exhibit lower real estate returns.
The report does not provide investment recommendations or projections of future valuations. Its approach is strictly comparative and statistical, focusing on gross profitability, price trends, income growth, and financial conditions.
A market that is gaining ground in international rankings
The April 2026 update confirms that the Dominican Republic continues to consistently appear in the international real estate profitability rankings compiled by Global Property Guide.
In the "buy-to-let" segment, the country maintains a relatively uncommon combination in the region, according to the portal: high yields, income growth, economic expansion, and a sustained flow of foreign currency via tourism, remittances, and foreign investment.
Global Property Guide (GPG) is an international real estate analysis and intelligence firm founded in 2003, specializing in global residential markets. It publishes comparative indicators on home prices, rental yields, mortgage rates, property taxes, and investment conditions in more than 100 countries.
Their reports are used by investors, analysts, funds and financial media to evaluate international real estate market trends using comparative methodologies based on data on prices, rents and financing.
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