Property Investment Calculator
What a rental property pays you each month and each year after mortgage, costs and vacancy.
A rental property is a business with a mortgage attached. Rent comes in once a month; the loan, taxes, insurance, management, maintenance and the occasional empty month all come out of it.
Enter the purchase, the rent, the operating costs and the loan, and this calculator shows the monthly cash flow, the annual cash-on-cash return and the gross and net yields.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Purchase price, Purchase costs, Deposit, Monthly rent, Mortgage interest rate, Mortgage term, Annual property tax, Annual insurance, Annual maintenance and repairs, Annual management fees, Other annual costs, Vacancy allowance
- What you get
- Monthly cash flow, Annual cash flow, Cash-on-cash return, Gross yield, Net yield
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Property Investment Calculator
- 1 Enter Purchase price
- 2 Enter Purchase costs - Taxes, legal fees, valuation, survey and any immediate work.
- 3 Enter Deposit
- 4 Enter Monthly rent
- 5 Enter Mortgage interest rate
- 6 Enter Mortgage term (years)
- 7 Enter Annual property tax
- 8 Enter Annual insurance
- 9 Enter Annual maintenance and repairs
- 10 Enter Annual management fees
- 11 Enter Other annual costs - Service charges, ground rent, accounting, licences, utilities you pay.
- 12 Enter Vacancy allowance - The share of the year you expect the property to be empty.
- 13 Press Calculate. You get Monthly cash flow, Annual cash flow, Cash-on-cash return, Gross yield, Net yield, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 14 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
A $180,000 property with a 40% deposit that pays for itself
A large deposit leaves the rent covering the loan and the costs at 5.5% over 30 years.
You enter
- Purchase price
- $180,000.00
- Purchase costs
- $9,000.00
- Deposit
- $72,000.00
- Monthly rent
- $1,400.00
- Mortgage interest rate
- 5.50%
- Mortgage term
- 30 years
- Annual property tax
- $1,800.00
- Annual insurance
- $800.00
- Annual maintenance and repairs
- $1,500.00
- Annual management fees
- $1,200.00
- Other annual costs
- $400.00
- Vacancy allowance
- 5%
You get
- Monthly cash flow
- $241.79
- Annual cash flow
- $2,901.45
- Cash-on-cash return
- 3.6%
- Gross yield
- 9.3%
- Net yield
- 5.7%
After a 5% vacancy allowance the rent collected is $15,960 a year, and the operating costs are $5,700, so net operating income is $10,260. The $108,000 loan costs $613.21 a month, or $7,358.55 a year, which leaves $2,901.45 a year of cash flow, about $241.79 a month. On $81,000 of cash invested that is a cash-on-cash return of 3.6%, with a gross yield of 9.3% and a net yield of 5.7%.
A $400,000 property with a 25% deposit that needs a monthly top-up
A larger loan at 6% over 25 years leaves a shortfall even with a higher rent.
You enter
- Purchase price
- $400,000.00
- Purchase costs
- $20,000.00
- Deposit
- $100,000.00
- Monthly rent
- $2,200.00
- Mortgage interest rate
- 6%
- Mortgage term
- 25 years
- Annual property tax
- $4,000.00
- Annual insurance
- $1,600.00
- Annual maintenance and repairs
- $3,000.00
- Annual management fees
- $0.00
- Other annual costs
- $800.00
- Vacancy allowance
- 8%
You get
- Monthly cash flow
- -$692.24
- Annual cash flow
- -$8,306.85
- Cash-on-cash return
- -6.9%
- Gross yield
- 6.6%
- Net yield
- 3.7%
After an 8% vacancy allowance the rent collected is $24,288 a year and the operating costs are $9,400, so net operating income is $14,888. The $300,000 loan costs $1,932.90 a month, or $23,194.85 a year, which leaves a cash flow of minus $8,306.85 a year, about minus $692.24 a month. That is a cash-on-cash return of minus 6.9% on the $120,000 invested, while the gross yield of 6.6% and the net yield of 3.7% still look unremarkable. Managing it yourself rather than paying an agent is what holds the operating costs at that level.
Guides that go with it
How Much House Can I Afford on My Salary?
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How Much of Your Salary Should Go to Rent?
You can work out a defensible rent ceiling in about fifteen minutes with nothing more than your payslip and a calculator. By the end of this guide you will know your gross and take-home pay, the rent…
How Much Can You Save by Paying Off Debt Early?
Paying extra toward a loan feels good. But how much does it actually save? In about ten minutes, you can work out the real number for your own debt: how many months you would cut, how much interest yo…
Frequently asked questions
Is cash-on-cash return the same as the rental yield?
No, and the mortgage is the difference. Cash-on-cash return is the cash left after the mortgage divided by the money you put in, which is the deposit plus the buying costs. Gross and net yield divide rent by the purchase price and ignore borrowing completely, because they exist to compare one property with another.
A property can show a respectable net yield and a negative cash-on-cash return at the same time, which is what happens when the loan is large relative to the rent. Read them together: the yield describes the property, cash-on-cash describes your money in it.
Does cash-on-cash return include capital growth?
No. It counts only the cash the property produces in a year: rent after vacancy, operating costs and mortgage payments. An increase in the value of the building is not income until you sell or borrow against it, and it appears nowhere on this page.
The Property ROI Calculator is the page that adds the change in value to the rent and reports a total and an annualised return over a holding period.
What vacancy allowance should I use?
It is the share of the year you expect the property to be empty, and it is taken off the rent before any cost is paid. Five per cent is about two and a half weeks a year, which suits a steady market where tenants renew. Ten per cent is more honest where tenants change often, where the property is student accommodation with a summer gap, or where every changeover costs a month of lost rent.
Underestimating this is the most common way a rental projection looks better than the reality. Put the cost of advertising and any fee for finding a tenant in the management line rather than treating them as part of the vacancy.
Why is the cash flow negative when the yield looks reasonable?
Because a mortgage payment is not part of a yield but is very much part of cash flow. Net operating income can be positive and cover every running cost, and the loan payment can still take more than what is left. The costs as a share of rent line shows how much of the rent the mortgage and the operating costs consume between them.
The three ways out are a larger deposit, a cheaper property, or more rent. A longer term lowers the payment and raises the total interest, which is why the monthly payment and the total cost of borrowing should always be read together.