60% of new housing in Colombia is sold off-plan

There's one figure that explains, better than any sales pitch, why 3D visualization stopped being a luxury in Colombia. The number usually quoted is that around 60% of new housing is sold off-plan, and it falls short: according to Guillermo Herrera, president of Camacol, the Colombian construction chamber, more than 70% of purchases are made off-plan. Seven out of ten buyers sign for something they can't yet set foot in.

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The 2025 numbers

The year closed better than many expected. According to Camacol, 173,632 new homes were sold in 2025, 12.4% more than 2024 and 20.4% more than 2023. Launches also grew: 140,365 units, up 15.3%.

By segment, social-interest housing (VIS, not counting the lowest-priced VIP tier) reached 100,565 units sold, up 15.3%, and non-VIS housing grew 19%.

But one figure worries the sector: only 115,687 homes started construction, a 17.4% drop. More is being sold than is being started. That widens the gap between "sold" and "built", exactly the ground where the buyer needs to understand what they're buying.

How 2026 is going

In December 2025, Camacol projected that sales would grow between 5% and 12% in 2026. The year went another way. According to Camacol data published in September, 105,226 new homes were sold from January to August, 11.7% fewer than in the same period of 2025. In July and August alone, sales fell 23.3%.

Supply is slowing too. Launches dropped 17.5% to 79,226 units, and construction starts fell 14.1% to 70,264. By segment, VIS housing fell 8.4% and non-VIS 18.6%.

There's another figure that hits the sales room directly: cancellations. According to Coordenada Urbana, Camacol's information system, households that walked away from a VIS purchase already in progress went from 12,405 in the twelve months to August 2022 to 33,187 in the twelve months to June 2026, an increase of about 168%. Camacol attributes it mainly to the end of the Mi Casa Ya subsidy, and the sector also points to interest rates, the minimum wage increase (VIS prices are tied to it) and denied mortgages.

With seven in ten purchases made off-plan and a market that's cooling, the way you show a project that doesn't exist yet decides a good share of your sales.

How buying off-plan works in Colombia

Buying off-plan means the project hasn't started construction yet, and it's the most common way to buy new housing in Colombia. In April 2024, for example, 67% of the more than 166,000 homes available for sale were off-plan, according to Camacol. Camacol's guide for buyers describes a path with several protections:

1. The buyer joins a fiduciary arrangement (encargo fiduciario). A trust company manages the reservation deposit and the installments, and that money can only go to the project.
2. The project has to reach its break-even point (punto de equilibrio), the minimum conditions set for starting construction, before building begins.
3. Once the break-even point is met, buyer and developer sign the promise of sale (promesa de compraventa).
4. Meanwhile, the trust company sends the buyer a report every six months on the status of their money and the progress of the project.

Camacol's president sums it up this way: buying off-plan lets households pay lower prices, and the mortgage is disbursed two to four years later. That's two to four years in which the buyer pays installments for something they only know from drawings, renders and whatever they were shown in the sales room.

What this means for a developer

Selling off-plan always had the same bottleneck: the buyer has to imagine. Imagine the real size of the bedroom, the afternoon light, the view from the 14th floor. And while they imagine, they hesitate. While they hesitate, they compare. And while they compare, they stall.

That's where interactive visualization comes in, and its job goes beyond making the project look pretty: it takes the imagining off the buyer's hands. When they can walk the apartment, change the finishes and lean out the window from their own phone, the conversation stops being about square meters on a plan and becomes about when they sign.

At Inviewd we build digital twins and virtual sales rooms for exactly that moment: the seven in ten purchases that happen before the building exists.

What to do with these numbers if you sell new housing

• Show the whole project from pre-sale. If most buyers commit before construction, the 3D tour has to be ready on launch day, not when the physical sales room is finished.
• Stay with the buyer through the wait. Two to four years pass between the reservation and the mortgage. A link to walk through their apartment again, along with construction updates, gives them something concrete to hold on to when doubts show up.
• Make what you promise clear. As Grupo Koi's manager told us, many disputes between buyer and developer come down to how a floor plan was read. A 3D model with defined finishes narrows that gap. We explain it in the digital twin as a scope guarantee.
• Look for buyers outside your city. If the local market cools, a buyer in another city or abroad can decide without traveling. There's data in selling homes to Colombians living abroad.
• Measure before you cut the price. Knowing which unit types get toured most and where people stop tells you what to adjust before touching the price. We cover what to track in sales room metrics.

Frequently asked questions

What share of new housing in Colombia is sold off-plan?

According to Guillermo Herrera, president of Camacol, more than 70% of new-home purchases are made off-plan (May 2026). In April 2024, Camacol reported that 67% of the homes available for sale, more than 166,000 units, were off-plan.

How many new homes were sold in Colombia in 2025?

173,632 units, 12.4% more than in 2024 and 20.4% more than in 2023, according to Camacol. Construction starts, on the other hand, fell 17.4% to 115,687 homes.

How are new-home sales doing in 2026?

From January to August 2026, 105,226 new homes were sold, 11.7% fewer than in the same period of 2025. VIS housing fell 8.4% and non-VIS 18.6%, according to Camacol data.

What protects someone who buys a home off-plan in Colombia?

The money is managed through a fiduciary arrangement and can only be used for the project. Construction starts when the break-even point is reached, and the trust company reports to the buyer every six months on their money and the progress of the project.

Sources

La República — Camacol: 174,000 units sold in 2025 · Camacol — Housing: a strategic sector · Semana: Camacol on the housing outlook (May 2026, in Spanish) · Pulzo: new-home sales January to August 2026, Camacol data (in Spanish) · La República: VIS purchase cancellations (July 2026, in Spanish) · Portafolio: Camacol figures for Q1 2024 (in Spanish) · Camacol: guide for home buyers (in Spanish) · Vivienda.com.co: buying off-plan (the 60% figure, in Spanish)