We work all three markets every day. To update this comparison we read the guides that currently rank. They compare the same things: atmosphere, beach, nightlife and a return. The best positioned one closes with five figures of rate, occupancy and appreciation, citing no source.
There is something none of the ones we read mentions, and you can verify it before you sign: Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Cozumel are three separate municipalities, each with its own revenue law. The same purchase, at the same price, pays different tax depending on which side of the municipal line the deed falls. This version compares that first, with the law in hand.
The acquisition tax: 4%, 4% and 3%
The acquisition tax is charged and set by each municipality in its own law. The three rates in force:
| Municipality | Rate | Legal basis | In force since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playa del Carmen | 4% | municipal revenue law, art. 23 QUINQUIES | 10 Dec 2025 |
| Tulum | 4% | municipal revenue law, art. 50 | 9 Dec 2024 |
| Cozumel | 3% | municipal revenue law, art. 28 | 9 Dec 2014, article unreformed |
On a 5,000,000 peso purchase that is 200,000 in Playa del Carmen, 200,000 in Tulum and 150,000 in Cozumel: fifty thousand pesos of difference for crossing on the ferry. The official procedure sheet published by Playa del Carmen lists the three rates the municipality has had: 2% up to 2019, 3% from 2020 to 2025 and 4% from 10 December 2025.
Why you will read that Tulum is 2%
Industry guides, and several "ISAI by state" tables, repeat that Tulum charges 2% and that the rate is set by state law. Both halves fail today.
Article 50 of Tulum's revenue law says in one line that the tax is computed by applying a rate of 4%, and it carries the note that it was reformed in the state gazette on 9 December 2024. Tulum set that rate a year before Playa del Carmen reached 4%. The 2% comes from the state acquisition-tax law, which applied to municipalities generally, and it is the rate Playa del Carmen's sheet now reserves for operations up to 2019. That is why it still circulates as if it governed the whole state. Budgeting your closing with that number leaves you short by half.
A second detail that ages these guides fast: the municipality of Solidaridad is now Playa del Carmen, under decree 111 published in the state gazette on 19 March 2025, without affecting rights, obligations or procedures already under way. It is the same law under a new name, and the municipal sheet itself still cites the Ley de Hacienda del Municipio de Solidaridad for 2020 to 2025 operations. The full tax load is in the tax guide.
The taxable base: the highest of three values
The tax is not simply computed on the agreed price. Article 49 in Tulum and article 27 in Cozumel require the highest of three values: the acquisition price adjusted for inflation, the cadastral appraisal, and an appraisal by a registered valuer or a banking institution, the last two no more than 180 days old.
One practical consequence follows. Recording a deed below the real price does not lower the tax, because the appraisal enters the comparison anyway, and it puts your acquisition cost on record lower, which raises your income tax the day you sell. The deadline to pay is fifteen days from the event that triggers the tax (article 51 in Tulum, 29 in Cozumel), and the calculation sits under the notary's responsibility.
Assigning trust rights does not save the tax
There is a local shortcut in circulation: instead of a new deed, the foreign seller assigns you their beneficiary rights in the existing fideicomiso, and you both save the tax.
All three municipalities tax it with the same wording: article 47, fraction VII in Tulum, article 24, subsection g in Cozumel, and article 23 BIS, fraction VII in Playa del Carmen. All three deem the assignment to exist whenever a settlor or a beneficiary is substituted, for any reason. The tax is due either way.
Presenting that assignment as a tax saving contradicts the text of all three laws. There are nine more red flags in the property fraud guide.
Annual property tax is calculated differently in each municipality
Here the difference is in the method.
In Tulum and Cozumel the base is not the cadastral value on its own either: articles 30 and 12 require the highest of the cadastral value, the bank value, the value declared by the taxpayer, and the rent the property produces or could produce. On that base, Tulum applies rates by class of property (article 32): 0.0017 to built urban lots and between 0.0050 and 0.00567 to vacant lots, depending on the zone. An unbuilt lot pays close to three times what a built one pays, an annual cost the buy-a-lot-and-wait thesis almost never includes.
Cozumel uses a seven-bracket schedule on the taxable value (article 15), with a fixed amount plus a factor on the excess. We did not verify Playa del Carmen's method for this version. The only reliable figure is the one the treasury issues against your cadastral key.
The calendar does coincide:
- It is paid two months in advance, in the first ten days of January, March, May, July, September and November (article 34 in Tulum, 16 in Cozumel).
- Paying the year up front, both councils are empowered to grant up to 25% off before 31 January and up to 15% until the last working day of February, subject to their own resolution (article 36 in Tulum, 18 in Cozumel). Tulum also requires the account to be current.
- For pensioners, retirees, people with a disability or holders of an INAPAM or INSEN card, Tulum allows a discount of up to 50% and Cozumel one of 50%, in both cases paying the year in one instalment, on a single property that is their own home, up to 20,786 UMA of value in Tulum and 40,000 UMA in Cozumel.
Playa del Carmen: the most complete market
Playa del Carmen is a city that works all year: Quinta Avenida, and also supermarkets, hospitals, schools and a full-time international community. For vacation rental that means less seasonal demand; for personal use, a daily life you can solve on foot.
The product we handle most there is the apartment in small boutique buildings. Our BUZZ, on Calle 28, is an example of the format, with units from 2,000,000 pesos. What to expect from each neighbourhood is in the zones guide, and how to read short-term rental returns is in the Airbnb ROI guide. It suits the buyer looking for balance between rental and personal use, and the first-time buyer, because it is where we see the most resales.
Tulum: the global brand, with caveats
Tulum is the market that generates most of our enquiries from abroad. The recent infrastructure is real, but it deserves a close look before it holds up a decision: the actual state of the airport and the train is in the Maya Train guide, and the risk exercise is in is Tulum a safe investment.
Two caveats. The first is supply: Tulum grew fast and there are zones with a lot of generic product competing on price, so where exactly and who is developing it weigh more than the render. The second is land. The coastal strip includes Tulum National Park, whose management programme was summarised in the federal gazette on 12 January 2024: 664-32-13 hectares from the 1981 decree in five subzones, with 545.94 hectares of preservation across 19 polygons where installing or building infrastructure is expressly prohibited, save what the park's own operation requires, as are land-use change and tourism. If the lot sits on the coast, that is the first thing to verify.
Our portfolio there is led by RAXÁ, a hospitality project with its own concept: in Tulum you buy concept and operation. It works for the investor who picks a project on criteria.
Cozumel: the island plays a different sport
Cozumel is smaller and quieter, and that is the appeal. Its own diving and cruise economy, 45 minutes by ferry, with far less new supply because every construction material crosses by boat.
THE STELLA, our project on the west side, starts at 12,400,000 pesos. The flip side: the northern tip and the eastern coast sit inside a federal protected natural area, and the twenty metres of firm land next to the beach are the federal maritime land zone and are not sold with the lot (Ley General de Bienes Nacionales, article 119). Both subjects, with the law, in the Cozumel guide. The buyer here wants a second home with calm and little supply competing when they rent.
The short comparison
| Criterion | Playa del Carmen | Tulum | Cozumel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisition tax | 4% | 4% | 3% |
| Property-tax method | Check with the treasury | Rates by property class | Seven-bracket schedule |
| Rental profile | Year-round, mixed | Tourist, project-sensitive | Niche: diving and long stays |
| Land restriction to check | Condominium rules | National park on the coast | Protected area and federal zone |
| Our development | BUZZ, from 2,000,000 MXN | RAXÁ | THE STELLA, from 12,400,000 MXN |
How to decide without asking the wrong question
Before comparing markets, define what you are buying for. Balance between use and rental with the lowest risk, Playa del Carmen. Exposure to international tourism, knowing how to pick a project, Tulum. Island, calm and little competition when you rent, Cozumel.
All three towns sit inside the restricted 50 kilometre coastal strip (Constitution, article 27, fraction I), so a foreigner acquires through a bank trust in any of them: fideicomiso guide. If you buy off plan, check the statutory warranties and the use the condominium assigns to the unit in the pre-construction guide, and the order of the document review in the buying process guide.
When we say no
We say no when the closing budget was built with another municipality's rate. When the seller proposes assigning the trust rights as a tax saving. When the lot sits on the Tulum coast or on Cozumel's northern tip and nobody can show where it falls relative to the protected polygon. And when the number holding up the purchase is an undocumented return.
We are master broker in all three markets, so the conversation starts with your objective. Write to us or see the inventory in properties. This guide is informational and does not replace legal or tax advice.