Property investment analysis
Make the numbers in a property deal easier to interrogate, compare and stress-test.
How to calculate rental yield properly
Rental yield compares annual rent with a property’s price or value. Gross yield is a useful first-pass metric, but it does not include the costs that determine how much cash you actually keep.
Read guide →Gross vs net rental yield: the difference that changes the picture
Gross yield uses rent and property value before operating costs. Net yield attempts to account for relevant running costs, making it closer to the economics of ownership.
Read guide →ROI vs rental yield: which metric should investors use?
Yield measures income relative to property value or price. Return on investment can instead focus on the cash you have actually invested, which makes financing and transaction costs much more important.
Read guide →Cash-on-cash return for UK property investors
Cash-on-cash return compares annual pre-tax cash flow with the cash invested in the deal. It can make leveraged deals easier to compare when purchase prices alone are misleading.
Read guide →How to analyse a BRRR property deal
A BRRR analysis has more moving parts than a simple buy-to-let because purchase, refurbishment, refinance valuation and post-works rent all interact.
Read guide →Buy-to-let deal analysis: a practical checklist
A buy-to-let screen should connect purchase price, achievable rent, finance, operating costs, tax assumptions and a realistic allowance for empty periods and repairs.
Read guide →How to analyse an HMO investment
HMO analysis needs room-level rental evidence, realistic occupancy, utilities and management costs, licensing and planning checks, and an appropriate valuation approach.
Read guide →What is GDV? Gross Development Value explained
Gross Development Value is the estimated value of a completed development. It is a crucial appraisal input because it anchors the revenue side of the scheme.
Read guide →Development profit margin: how to read an appraisal
Development profit is the residual after development revenue is compared with land, build, professional, finance, sales and other project costs. Margin can be expressed in more than one way, so definitions matter.
Read guide →How to build a property refurbishment budget
A refurbishment budget works best when it is broken into real work packages rather than one round-number allowance.
Read guide →How to stress-test a property investment for mortgage rates
A mortgage stress test asks whether the deal still functions if borrowing costs are less favourable than your base assumption.
Read guide →How rental voids change property returns
A void period is time when a rental property produces no rent. Even a short gap can reduce annual cash flow while many costs continue.
Read guide →Service charges and property investment returns
For leasehold property, service charges can materially change net income and may rise independently of rent.
Read guide →Capital growth vs cash flow: two different property strategies
Cash flow rewards income today; capital growth is an increase in asset value that may only become usable on sale or refinance. Markets and properties can deliver very different mixes of the two.
Read guide →Property deal sensitivity analysis: test what could go wrong
Sensitivity analysis changes one or more assumptions to show which variables have the greatest effect on a deal.
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