Property Rental Yield Calculator — Gross & Net Yield
Work out whether a property's rent justifies its price. The calculator returns both gross yield (rent ÷ price) and net yield (after expenses and vacancy).
% of the year unrented. 5% ≈ 18 days; 8% ≈ 1 month.
For condos/serviced apartments. Set to 0 for landed.
Quit rent + assessment + insurance + repairs + agent/management fees.
- Gross rental yield
- 6%
- Annual rent ÷ purchase price.
- Annual rent (gross)
- RM 30,000.00
- Effective rent (after vacancy)
- RM 27,600.00
- Annual expenses (total)
- RM 6,700.00
- Maintenance fee × 12 + other expenses.
- Net annual income
- RM 20,900.00
- Net monthly income
- RM 1,741.67
- · Excludes capital appreciation and mortgage interest. To get true cash-on-cash return, subtract mortgage interest from net income and divide by down-payment instead of full price.
- · Net yield ≥ 5% is a useful threshold for buy-to-let in Malaysia. Below 4% the property is essentially a capital-growth bet, not an income bet.
About this calculator
Rental yield is the single most important number when evaluating a buy-to-let property — it tells you how hard your capital is working. Gross yield = annual rent ÷ purchase price. Net yield subtracts the costs of actually being a landlord: vacancy (always assume at least one month per year, often 5–8% on average), quit rent, assessment, maintenance fee (for condos), annual repairs, insurance, agent fees if you use one (typically 1 month's rent per new tenant — amortise over 2 years), and management fees if you hire a property manager (8–10% of rent). For Malaysian property: a *gross* yield of 4–5% is considered weak (KL/PJ condos often fall here), 5–6% is decent, and 7%+ is rare and usually only seen in either suburban Klang Valley landed homes, secondary cities (Penang, Johor), or commercial/short-stay properties. Crucially, gross yield ignores capital growth — a low-yielding KL condo can still beat a high-yielding Seremban townhouse if appreciation is much faster. Treat yield as the income leg and capital appreciation as the second leg; you need at least one of them to be strong.
Formula
Gross yield = (Monthly rent × 12) ÷ Purchase price × 100 Net yield = (Effective rent − Annual expenses) ÷ Purchase price × 100 Effective rent = Monthly rent × 12 × (1 − vacancy%)
Example calculation
Example: RM500k condo, RM2,500/mo rent, 8% vacancy
Gross yield is 6.00% (RM30,000 / RM500,000). After 8% vacancy you collect RM27,600. Maintenance is RM4,200/year and other expenses RM2,500 — leaving RM20,900 net, or 4.18% net yield. Decent on the gross number but the maintenance fee bites; many KL condos look like this.