Work out what a rental property actually returns — after the stamp duty, the legal fees, the vacancy and the mortgage. Four yield measures kept properly apart, in 40 markets, entirely in this tab.
Start from a scenario
Pre-filled from the market you picked. These are what turn a listing's yield into the real one — edit them to match your quote.
The share of the year the property sits empty or unpaid. This reduces rent only — an empty flat still pays insurance and service charges.
| Line | Amount |
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Four measures, four denominators
Gross yield divides rent by the price. Net yield divides income after costs by what the purchase actually cost you, including stamp duty and fees. Cap rate divides net operating income by the price and ignores financing entirely. They are different numbers about the same building, and quoting one while meaning another is how a 6% property turns out to be a 3% one.
The deposit is a share of the price. Every buying cost above is paid in cash on top of it.
Cap rate ignores the loan. Cash-on-cash does not.
Net operating income is measured before any mortgage, which is what lets two buyers compare the same building on different terms. Cash-on-cash takes the mortgage out and divides what is left by the cash you actually put in — deposit plus every buying cost. The gap between the two is the whole effect of leverage.
Four sources of return, not one
Total return is cash flow plus the mortgage being paid down plus price growth, minus the cost of selling. Leaving out the principal paid down understates the return; leaving out selling costs overstates it. The annualised figure compounds rather than divides — doubling your money over ten years is 7.2% a year, not 10%.
| Year | Net operating income | Monthly cash flow | Cumulative |
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Stamp duty, legal fees and survey costs are pre-filled per market and go into total invested, so net yield is measured against what the purchase really cost. That single change moves a yield by a full percentage point in high-duty markets, and it is the figure every listing leaves out.
Gross on price, gross on total, net yield and cap rate are all on screen at once, each labelled with its own denominator. Nothing here lets you quote a cap rate and mean a cash-on-cash return.
The monthly payment, the interest and principal split and the balance after N years come from a real amortization schedule, not a rule of thumb. The principal you have paid down is then counted as a return, because it is one.
There is no backend. What you are considering paying for a property, and what you expect it to earn, is commercially sensitive — it stays in this tab.
This tool performs arithmetic on the figures you enter. It is not financial, tax, legal or investment advice, and the built-in market costs are typical values rather than quotes. Property investment carries risk, including the loss of capital. Verify every figure with a local conveyancer, lender and accountant before committing to a purchase.