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Rental yield calculator
Type in a price and the rent you expect. We show what the property actually returns after the running costs and the tax of the country it sits in — not the flattering number a listing quotes you.
Most yield calculators divide the rent by the price and stop. That number is the one number an investor cannot spend. This one keeps going — through the voids, the agent, the maintenance, the property tax, the building fees and the income tax — and then shows you what is left.
Gross yield is not what you earn
Gross yield answers one question — how much rent does this price buy — and it is genuinely useful for a first pass across a list of properties. It is not what arrives in your account. Between the rent a tenant pays and the money you keep sit six deductions, and five of them are unavoidable:
- Voids. The flat will not be let every month of every year. We allow 8% of the gross, which is a little over a month a year.
- Management. A letting agent takes 8% of what is collected. Self-manage from another country and you pay in time instead.
- Maintenance. Repairs, replacements and the reserve you should be holding for them.
- Property tax and insurance. Annual, unavoidable, and set locally — this is where two otherwise similar European markets diverge most.
- Building charges. Every apartment owner pays them. We deduct a real published figure where one exists and say so plainly where it does not.
- Income tax. Charged on the net, at the rate that applies to an owner living in another EU country.
Then there are the purchase costs — transfer tax, notary, registry, legal — which are typically 2% to 13% of the price depending on the country, and which no yield formula includes. That is why the calculator shows what you would actually have to put on the table, and what your return looks like measured against it.
Common questions
What is a good rental yield?
In European city-centre apartments a gross yield of 4–6% is typical, and anything above 8% usually means the rent, the price or the risk has been misread. What matters more is the net figure: after voids, management, maintenance, property tax, building fees and income tax, a 6% gross commonly lands between 2% and 3.5%. Compare net against net, and against what the same money earns elsewhere.
How do you calculate rental yield?
Gross rental yield is the annual rent divided by the purchase price, times 100 — so €12,000 of rent on a €250,000 flat is 4.8%. Net yield subtracts the costs of actually owning and letting it: expected empty periods, letting-agent fees, maintenance, annual property tax, insurance and building or condominium charges. Then income tax comes off what is left.
Why is your number lower than the one the agent gave me?
Because an agent quotes gross yield, and often against an optimistic rent. This calculator deducts the costs that are certain to arrive: an allowance for the months the flat sits empty, the letting agent, maintenance, the annual property tax, insurance, the building charge where we hold a published figure, and the income tax due from a non-resident EU owner.
Does this include mortgage payments?
No. These figures model a cash purchase. Borrowing amplifies the return when the yield is above the borrowing rate and amplifies the loss when it is below, so mixing it into a headline yield hides more than it shows.
Does it work for Airbnb or short lets?
No — this is a long-let calculation. Short-let income depends on nightly rates and occupancy that vary street by street and season by season, and we hold no such data for any market, so we will not estimate it. A short-let figure built on a guess is worse than no figure.
Which countries does it cover?
Seventeen European markets: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Cyprus, Romania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Each one uses that country’s own published purchase taxes, property taxes and rental income tax rates rather than a single European average.
Is it free?
Yes, and there is no signup. The calculation is free. What needs early access is the market context behind it — what comparable flats in that city actually rent and sell for, and whether the number you just calculated is strong or weak for that market.