Rental Yield Calculator
Enter the property value, weekly (or monthly) rent and running costs — the calculator shows your gross yield, two net yield figures (on purchase price, and on total cost including stamp duty), how you compare to 2026 capital-city benchmarks, and — if you enter a deposit below 100% — your leveraged cash-on-cash return.
4.80% gross rental yield
Net yield (on property value): 2.15% · Net yield (on total cost incl. acquisition costs): 2.07%
Cash-on-cash return: 2.07% (cash purchase, no loan)
Full breakdown — where the rent goes
| Line | Amount / year |
|---|---|
| Gross rent | $31,200 |
| − Vacancy (2 wk) | −$1,200 |
| − Management fee | −$2,496 |
| − Maintenance | −$9,750 |
| − Insurance | −$1,200 |
| − Other costs | −$2,600 |
| = Net rental income | $13,954 |
Property value $650,000 + acquisition costs $25,000 = total property cost $675,000. Gross yield divides by property value alone; the total-cost net yield divides by the full amount you actually put into the purchase.
Gross yield = annual rent ÷ property value × 100. Net yield shown two ways — divided by property value alone, and divided by the total amount invested (value + acquisition costs) — because sources use both conventions. Vacancy, management fee, maintenance and other costs are editable estimates, not fixed rules. Sources: Landlord Vision, Savills, Westpac, Property Investment Professionals (see page for citations). How we calculate →
How rental yield is calculated in Australia
Australian rent is almost always quoted per week, not per month, so both Westpac and Property Investment Professionals (PIPA) calculate gross yield as weekly rent × 52, divided by the property's purchase price, ×100. This calculator takes your rent in whichever period you have it (weekly, monthly or annual) and normalises it the same way.
Net yield goes further: Westpac deducts annual expenses and divides by the purchase price; PIPA divides by the total property cost (purchase price plus stamp duty and other acquisition costs) instead — a more conservative, and arguably more honest, denominator. This calculator shows both net figures rather than picking a side.
Worked example: gross vs net on a $650,000 investment property
A $650,000 property let at $600 a week ($31,200 a year), with 2 weeks' vacancy, an 8% property management fee (Westpac and PIPA both cite roughly this rate), maintenance budgeted at PIPA's 1.5%-of-value auto-estimate, $1,200 landlord insurance and $2,600 for council rates and other costs — the calculator's own defaults, all editable above.
That gives a gross yield of 4.80%, a net yield on value of 2.15%, and a net yield on total cost (including $25,000 of stamp duty and other acquisition costs) of 2.07% — a gap of roughly 2.7 percentage points between the headline and realistic figures, comparable to the 1.48-point gap Property Investment Professionals shows in its own $600,000 worked example.
What is a good rental yield in Australia in 2026?
Westpac frames it as a trade-off rather than a target: a high yield (generally 8-10%) can signal a property is undervalued for cash flow, while a low yield (2-4%) can signal it's overvalued relative to rent — but a high-yield property may also come with weaker capital growth. PIPA's 2026 quality bands are more specific: above 5% gross is 'strong', 3-5% is 'average', and below 3% is 'yield-poor' (though such properties may still offer capital growth).
Our $650,000 worked example above, at 4.80% gross, sits in PIPA's 'average' band — a realistic outcome for a capital-city property, not a red flag on its own.
Median yields by capital city (PIPA, 2026)
Property Investment Professionals publishes its own 2026 median gross yield estimates by capital city: Sydney 2.8% (houses) / 3.8% (units), Melbourne 3.2% / 4.2%, Brisbane 4.0% / 5.2%, Perth 4.5% / 5.8%, Adelaide 4.2% / 5.3%, and Hobart 3.8% / 4.8%. Perth and Adelaide currently lead the mainland capitals for yield; Sydney and Melbourne trail because property prices there have run further ahead of rents.
These are PIPA's own published figures for 2026, not an independently audited data source (older CoreLogic figures cited elsewhere by lenders such as Westpac date to 2022 and are excluded here as stale) — use them as one industry reference point, and always compare against the actual rents and prices in the specific suburb you're considering.
Why net yield is lower than gross — and by how much
PIPA's own rule of thumb: net yield typically runs 1-1.5 percentage points below gross yield for a standalone house, and 1.5-2.5 points below for a strata-titled unit, because units carry body corporate/strata fees that houses don't. Our worked example above shows a 2.65-2.73 point gap, at the higher end of that range because of the 1.5% maintenance assumption and the property management fee.
The single biggest lever most investors overlook is which net yield you're being shown: dividing by purchase price (Westpac's method) versus dividing by total cost including stamp duty (PIPA's method) changes the answer by roughly 0.1-0.2 percentage points on a typical Australian purchase, where stamp duty is a smaller share of total cost than in the UK.
Leverage and cash-on-cash: the real return on your deposit
Yield measures return against the whole property price, but most investors only put in a deposit plus stamp duty. Cash-on-cash return divides net rental income, minus mortgage interest, by the cash you actually invested.
For example, a $500,000 unit let at $520/week with a 20% deposit ($400,000 loan at 6.2% interest) shows a solid 5.41% gross yield, but once $24,800 of annual mortgage interest is deducted, the cash-on-cash return falls to -11.14% — a classic negative-gearing scenario where the cash-flow loss may be offset by a tax deduction, but is a real cash outlay each year regardless. Enter your own deposit and rate above to see this for your property.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate rental yield on an Australian property?
Gross yield = (weekly rent × 52) ÷ property purchase price × 100. For example, $600/week on a $650,000 property gives a 4.80% gross yield. Net yield subtracts vacancy and annual expenses first, then divides by either the purchase price or the total cost including stamp duty — this calculator shows both.
What is rental yield?
Rental yield is the annual rental return on an investment property, shown as a percentage of its value. Gross yield ignores running costs; net yield deducts vacancy, property management fees, maintenance, insurance and rates for a more realistic figure.
What is a good rental yield in Australia?
Property Investment Professionals' 2026 bands: above 5% gross is 'strong', 3-5% is 'average', below 3% is 'yield-poor'. Westpac frames a high yield (8-10%) as a value signal and a low yield (2-4%) as a possible overvaluation signal, but stresses high yield can trade off against weaker capital growth.
What is the difference between gross and net rental yield?
Gross yield only compares annual rent to property price. Net yield deducts vacancy loss, property management fees (commonly around 8% of rent), maintenance, insurance and council rates — and can be measured against the purchase price (Westpac's method) or the total cost including stamp duty (PIPA's method); this calculator shows both.
Why is net yield lower than gross yield?
Because it accounts for the real costs of holding the property. PIPA's rule of thumb is that net yield runs 1-1.5 percentage points below gross for a house, and 1.5-2.5 points below for a strata unit with body corporate fees. Our $650,000 worked example shows roughly a 2.7-point gap.
Should I compare properties by gross or net yield?
Gross yield is fine for a first-pass scan across listings, but net yield — ideally on total cost including stamp duty — is what serious investors compare, because two properties with the same gross yield can have very different running costs and therefore very different real returns.
How does negative gearing show up in this calculator?
If you set a deposit below 100%, the calculator deducts mortgage interest from net rental income before dividing by your cash invested to give a cash-on-cash return. A negative cash-on-cash figure — as in our leveraged example, where a 5.41% gross yield becomes -11.14% cash-on-cash after interest — is a textbook negatively geared property; the shortfall may be tax-deductible, but it is still a real annual cash cost.
Do I need to include stamp duty in my yield calculation?
For a realistic 'net yield on total cost' figure, yes — stamp duty and other acquisition costs increase the amount you've actually invested, so leaving them out overstates your return. This calculator includes an acquisition costs field specifically for this.
Related calculators
- Stamp Duty Calculator — transfer duty by state with first-home concessions.
- Capital Gains Tax Calculator — the tax on a future sale, with the 50% discount.
Researched & verified by the Calcuris Data & Research Team. How we build and check our tools →