# Rental Yield Calculator > Calculate gross yield, net yield (cap rate), and cash-on-cash return for a rental property. Includes monthly cash flow and time to recoup. URL: https://uttir.com/rental-yield-calculator Categories: calculators, math-tools Privacy: All math runs locally. No property data leaves your browser. ## About Three different yield metrics tell you different things about a rental property. Gross yield is the simplest: annual rent divided by purchase price, ignoring all costs. Useful for quick screening. Net yield (a.k.a. cap rate, capitalisation rate) subtracts operating expenses but not financing: (annual rent - expenses) / price. The standard metric for comparing different properties in the same market. Cash-on-cash return accounts for financing: (annual rent - expenses - mortgage) / cash invested. The metric that tells you what you are actually earning on the cash you put in. The tool computes all three plus monthly cash flow and an estimate of how long it takes to recoup your cash investment at the current return rate. ## How to use 1. **Enter the purchase price** — Total cost of the property, not just your down payment. 2. **Enter expected monthly rent** — What you can realistically charge. Look at comparable units in the same area. 3. **Enter annual expenses** — Property tax, insurance, maintenance, management fees, vacancy reserve (typical: 5-10% of rent). 4. **Enter your cash invested and mortgage** — Cash invested is your down payment + closing costs. Mortgage is the annual P&I payment (use the loan-amortization-calculator to find this). ## Examples ### $350k property, $2,500/mo rent, $5k expenses, $80k down, $18k/yr mortgage A typical single-family rental scenario. Output: ``` Gross: 8.57% · Net (cap rate): 7.14% · Cash-on-cash: 6.75% · Monthly cash flow: $250 · Recoup: ~14.8 years ``` ### $200k condo, $1,800/mo rent, $4k expenses, $40k down, $11k/yr mortgage A higher-leverage scenario. Output: ``` Gross: 10.80% · Net: 8.40% · Cash-on-cash: 7.20% · Monthly cash flow: $483 · Recoup: ~13.9 years ``` ## FAQ ### What is a good rental yield? It depends on the market. In expensive US coastal cities, a gross yield of 4-6% is typical. In the Midwest US, 8-12% is achievable. In some international markets (parts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Eastern Europe), 10-15% is common. As a rule of thumb, a net yield (cap rate) above 5% is decent in the US; above 8% is strong. Anything below 4% net is hard to justify unless you expect significant appreciation. ### What is a good cash-on-cash return? Anything above 8-10% is considered good. A 12%+ cash-on-cash return means the property is essentially paying for itself from rental income alone, with the mortgage covered. The challenge is finding these in expensive markets; they are more common in lower-cost areas or properties that need work. ### Should I include vacancy in expenses? Yes. Even in tight rental markets, plan for 5-10% vacancy (the property is empty for some of the year between tenants). In seasonal markets, 15-20%. Most property-management software will calculate this for you; a rough rule of thumb is 1 month of vacancy per year = 8.3% of annual rent. ### What about maintenance reserves? Plan for 1-2% of the property value per year for maintenance. This covers the average annual cost of repairs, appliance replacement, and capital expenditures over a typical year. In any given year you may spend nothing; in other years you may spend much more (new roof, new HVAC). The 1-2% reserve smooths this out. ## Related tools - [Mortgage Calculator](https://uttir.com/mortgage-calculator) — Estimate monthly mortgage payments, including down payment, property tax, and insurance. - [Loan Amortization Calculator](https://uttir.com/loan-amortization-calculator) — Generate a full month-by-month amortization schedule for any loan. See principal vs interest, total cost, and the full payment table. - [Rent vs Buy Calculator](https://uttir.com/rent-vs-buy-calculator) — Compare the total cost of renting vs buying a home over a time horizon. Accounts for mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, appreciation, and opportunity cost of the down payment. - [Compound Interest Calculator](https://uttir.com/compound-interest-calculator) — Project savings growth with compound interest and monthly contributions, year by year. - [Inflation Calculator](https://uttir.com/inflation-calculator) — Calculate how inflation erodes purchasing power over time. Custom rate or historical U.S. CPI averages from 1990 onward. --- For the full HTML page with the live tool, visit https://uttir.com/rental-yield-calculator. This file is the markdown rendering at https://uttir.com/rental-yield-calculator.md. See https://uttir.com/llms.txt for a site-wide summary.