Rental Yield Calculator
Calculate gross and net rental yield on your Australian investment property.
| Net Rental Yield | — |
| Annual Rental Income | — |
| Net Annual Income | — |
| Weekly Return | — |
Understanding Rental Yield
Rental yield is a year's rent as a percentage of the property's value — the quickest way to compare investment properties.
Gross Rental Yield
(Weekly Rent × 52 ÷ Property Value) × 100. No costs: the screening number listings quote.
Net Rental Yield
((Annual Rent − Annual Expenses) ÷ Property Value) × 100. The decision number, shown only once you enter expenses.
How it's calculated
Worked example — a $620,000 unit at $620 a week
A $620,000 unit, near Cotality's Melbourne unit median, renting at $620 a week: $32,240 a year.
| Expense | Basis | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Property management | 7% + GST on $32,240 | $2,482 |
| Letting fee | One week + GST, one re-let | $682 |
| Vacancy allowance | Two weeks' rent | $1,240 |
| Council rates | Illustrative | $1,400 |
| Water service charges | Illustrative | $800 |
| Strata levies | $900 a quarter | $3,600 |
| Landlord insurance | Building insured by strata | $450 |
| Repairs and maintenance | Allowance | $1,000 |
| Land tax | Below the NSW threshold | $0 |
| Total | $11,654 |
Enter 620,000, 620 and 11,654 and the calculator returns 5.20% gross, 3.32% net and $20,586 of net annual income. Strata alone is 0.58 points of the 1.88-point gap.
On a $480,000 purchase price, the same unit shows 6.72% gross and 4.29% net (see the FAQs).
What goes in Annual Expenses — and what doesn't
Recurring owner costs. The ATO lists council rates, water charges, land tax and agent fees as claimable while the property is rented or genuinely available for rent.
- Property management: roughly 5–10% of rent plus GST (lower in NSW and Victoria, higher in SA and WA), plus a letting fee of one to two weeks' rent.
- Council rates: set by each council.
- Water: the landlord pays the fixed service charges — about $987 a year for a metered Sydney house in 2026–27 (Sydney Water). Tenants can generally be billed usage.
- Insurance: building plus landlord cover for a house; for a strata unit, where the body corporate insures the building, usually a few hundred dollars.
- Strata levies, plus repairs and maintenance as a rough allowance — 1% of value a year is a common rule of thumb for houses, but overstates for units.
- Land tax, where your total holdings in a state exceed its threshold, and a vacancy allowance.
Leave these out:
- Loan principal — not an expense, and not deductible.
- Interest — deductible (ATO), but left out of yield by convention: yield measures the property, not the financing.
- Depreciation — a non-cash deduction that changes after-tax return, not yield (depreciation calculator).
- Stamp duty and conveyancing — one-off, not annual.
Gross yields by capital city
Median rent ÷ median value.
| City | Houses | Units | All dwellings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 3.0% | 4.4% | 3.4% |
| Melbourne | 3.5% | 5.2% | 4.1% |
| Brisbane | 3.4% | 4.2% | 3.5% |
| Adelaide | 3.5% | 4.5% | 3.6% |
| Perth | 3.9% | 5.2% | 4.0% |
| Hobart | 4.3% | 4.8% | 4.4% |
| Darwin | 6.0% | 7.5% | 6.5% |
| Canberra | 4.0% | 5.5% | 4.4% |
| Combined capitals | 3.4% | 4.7% | 3.7% |
| Combined regionals | 4.3% | 4.6% | 4.3% |
| National | 3.6% | 4.7% | 3.9% |
The national figure, 3.85% unrounded, is the highest since August 2019. Units yield about 1 to 1.5 points more than houses in most capitals, though strata levies narrow the gap at net.
Yield vs cash flow
Net yield ignores the loan. Give the example an 80% loan of $496,000 at 7.00% interest-only — an assumed rate for illustration, not a market quote (the RBA cash rate has been 4.60% since 30 September 2026). Interest is $34,720 a year against $20,586 of net income: −$14,134 before tax. The negative gearing calculator adds your loan and tax.
Total return is roughly yield plus growth. Over the year to September, Sydney dwellings yielded 3.4% but returned −4.1%; Perth yielded 4.0% and returned 14.3% (Cotality).
Sources
- Cotality Home Value Index, October 2026 (third-party market data)
- ATO: Rental properties 2026, expenses you can claim, interest, genuinely available for rent
- Sydney Water: residential pricing 2026–27
- RBA: cash rate target
- Land tax thresholds: Revenue NSW, SRO Victoria