Investment Property Calculator.
Will this property pay for itself?
The property
1,690 markets across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT publish no rent data at all.
Running costs & assumptions
Out of pocket before tax
After the negative-gearing deduction at your 39% marginal rate, that improves to about −$322/wk - before depreciation, which often helps further.
Gross yield
4.5%
Net yield
2.7%
Cash needed upfront
$187,500
Equity in 10 yrs
$510,183
Annual cash flow
On an established home bought now, this loss does not reduce your salary tax.
Residential property acquired after 12 May 2026 is caught by the 2026 reform: from the 2027-28 income year a rental loss can only be offset against other residential property income, including a capital gain on sale. It is carried forward until there is some, rather than lost - so the $6,523 is deferred, not destroyed, and it lands when you sell. An eligible new build is exempt; switch the toggle to see it. A property you already held before 12 May 2026 is grandfathered and unaffected.
Projected equity over 10 years · 4.0% growth
Peak: $510,183
Break-even rent at these settings: $985/wk - you're $335/wk short of covering costs.
How this is calculated＋
Cash flow = rent (less vacancy) minus loan costs, management and holding costs. The gearing effect deducts any rental loss (using interest, not principal) against income at your marginal rate including Medicare levy. Equity projection compounds the property value at your growth rate and reduces the loan balance if P&I.
- Upfront cash assumes your deposit plus ~5% of price for stamp duty, legals and inspections - it varies by state.
- Depreciation (especially on newer builds) can add thousands in paper deductions - not modelled here.
- LMI applies under a 20% deposit and is not included.
LINK Living finds and manages the property; LINK Advance structures the loan. One connected team.
Talk to Living →Indicative estimates only - excludes exact stamp duty, LMI, depreciation schedules, land tax and CGT. Not financial, credit or tax advice.
Rental yield, gross and net.
Gross rental yield is the annual rent divided by the purchase price. It is the number in the listing and it is the number most people compare properties on. A $750,000 house renting at $650 a week collects $33,800 a year, which is a gross yield of 4.5%.
Net rental yield is the same sum after the money that never reaches you: a couple of weeks of vacancy, seven or eight per cent to a property manager, council rates, insurance, strata where it applies, and the maintenance that arrives whether it is budgeted or not. On that same house the net yield is usually somewhere between 2.8% and 3.4%.
That gap - roughly a point and a half - is about $10,000 a year on a $750,000 purchase. It is the single most common reason a property that looked like it would wash its own face does not, and it is why the calculator above shows both figures rather than the flattering one.
A worked example, Brisbane, 2026.
$750,000 purchase, 20% deposit, $600,000 borrowed at 6.2% interest only, renting at $650 a week with two weeks of vacancy allowed. Rent collects $32,500. Interest costs $37,200. Management at 7% takes $2,275, and rates, insurance and upkeep at 1.3% of value take another $9,750.
That is roughly $16,700 a year out of pocket before tax - about $320 a week - against a 4.5% gross yield that looked perfectly respectable. What happens to that loss now depends on what you bought. On an eligible new build, a 39% marginal rate returns around $6,500 of it against your other income, bringing the holding cost closer to $195 a week. On an established home bought after 12 May 2026, it returns nothing against your salary: the 2026 reform quarantines the loss from the 2027-28 income year, so it is carried forward against future residential income or the capital gain when you sell. Same property, same numbers, $125 a week of difference in what it costs you to hold - which is the single biggest thing to get right before you bid.
Change any of those inputs above and the whole picture moves. That is the point of running it before you bid rather than after you settle.
Common questions.
→How do you calculate rental yield?
Gross rental yield is the annual rent divided by the property price, times 100. A $750,000 property renting at $650 a week collects $33,800 a year, which is a gross yield of 4.5%. Net yield is the more useful number: take the rent, subtract vacancy, management fees, rates, insurance and maintenance, then divide by the price. On the same property that typically lands between 2.8% and 3.4%, and the gap between the two figures is the part that surprises people.
→What is a good rental yield in Australia?
Gross yields of 4-5% are common in Australian capital cities, with regional markets often 5-7% and inner-city apartments sometimes below 4%. But yield alone decides nothing: a high-yield property in a market with no capital growth can underperform a low-yield property that appreciates, and the reverse is also true. The number worth watching is the combination of yield, growth and what the holding costs you each week while you wait.
→What is the difference between gross and net rental yield?
Gross yield uses the rent before costs. Net yield uses what actually reaches you after vacancy, property management, council rates, insurance, strata and maintenance. Gross is the number in the listing; net is the number in your bank account. On a typical property the difference is one to one and a half percentage points, which on a $750,000 purchase is around $10,000 a year - so a decision made on the gross figure is being made on a number that does not exist.
→How much will an investment property cost me each week?
That is the weekly cash flow figure this calculator leads with, and for most geared purchases it is negative before tax. Rent covers part of the loan and the running costs; the rest comes out of your income. The calculator shows the before-tax and after-tax weekly position, because the deduction on a rental loss materially changes it at higher marginal rates - though a deduction is a reduction in a loss, not a return.
→Should I use the advertised rent or the achieved rent?
The achieved rent, every time. An advertised rent is what a landlord asked for; an achieved rent is what a tenant signed, and in a market that is discounting they are not the same number. The suburb picker in this calculator fills the rent from the median of new bond lodgements in that suburb - the figures the state governments publish through their rental bond authorities - so the yield starts from what the market actually paid rather than what it was asked to. If you are holding a signed lease, use that instead: a real number for a real property beats any median.
→Does this include stamp duty and LMI?
The upfront cash figure assumes your deposit plus roughly 5% of the price for duty, legals and inspections, which varies by state. For an exact Queensland figure use our stamp duty calculator, which handles the investor rates and the first home concessions properly. Lenders mortgage insurance applies below a 20% deposit and is not modelled here, because the premium depends on the lender and the loan-to-value ratio.
→What is not in this calculator?
Depreciation, which on a newer build can add thousands of dollars in paper deductions and would improve the after-tax figure. Land tax, which varies by state and by your total holdings. Capital gains tax on sale. Interest rate changes over the hold period. It is a model of one year at the settings you enter, projected forward on a constant growth rate - which is useful for comparing properties and useless as a prediction.
Working out the tax side rather than the yield? The negative gearing calculator models the deduction properly. For an exact Queensland duty figure, the stamp duty calculator handles investor rates and the concessions.
LINK tools. Figures are guides only - talk to the team for numbers specific to you.