Tallyroo.

Australia · FY 2026–27

Rental yield calculator

Gross and net rental yield for any property, with your state’s stamp duty counted in what you spent.

FY 2026-27 rates · verified against the official sources.

Outgoings: rates, water, insurance, management, maintenance, strata, land tax. Cash only — depreciation belongs in a tax calculation, not a yield.

Buying costs and a target yield

Example figure — replace it with your quote.

Your tally

Gross yield

4.3%

$32,500 of rent received over 50 tenanted weeks. After outgoings it is 3.3% on the price, and 3.2% on what you actually spent.

How each one is worked out

Gross rent ÷ price4.3%
Net on price (rent − outgoings) ÷ price3.3%
Net on outlay (rent − outgoings) ÷ everything you spent to buy it3.2%
Buying costs counted stamp duty, legals and the rest$30,337

Gross and net on outlay are 1.1 pts apart.

The same property, measured three ways

To reach 5% gross

This property would need to rent for $750 a week over 50 tenanted weeks — $100 more than it does now.

Next: what it costs you each week after interest and tax → Investment property calculator

Yield is a return on capital, before any tax. It says nothing about what the property costs you to hold after interest and the refund.

"Net yield" is not one number

This page gives three yields, each with its denominator named. The third one divides by what you actually spent — price plus your state's real stamp duty — which is the figure a yield on the price alone leaves out.

Gross yield has one denominator, the purchase price, and subtracts nothing; the only choice in it is whether the rent is the asking rent or the rent received, and this page uses received. Net yield adds two more choices — which costs come off, and what to divide by. Two people can both compute it correctly, honestly, and get different answers, because one divided by the price and the other by what the purchase actually cost. Neither of them is lying, and unless they said which, neither figure can be checked.

On the example above the spread between the headline figure and the money-out-the-door figure is 1.1 percentage points. That is not a rounding difference on a decision this size.

The three yield conventions, the rent each uses, the denominator each divides by, and what each is good for.
ConventionDivides byGood forWatch out for
GrossPurchase priceComparing listings quickly, before you know their costsIt ignores every cost, so it always flatters
Net on pricePurchase priceComparing two properties whose outgoings differ — a strata unit against a houseLeaves out what it cost to buy, which is mostly stamp duty
Net on outlayPrice + acquisition costsThe return on the money that actually left your accountGoes UP, not down, once the net figure is negative

Stamp duty is why the third number exists

Acquisition costs are dominated by duty, and duty is the one cost that changes entirely with the state. The same $750,000 purchase, the same rent, the same outgoings — and a different border produces a different net-on-outlay yield, because the denominator moved. This page computes that duty at the investor rate from the same tested engines as our state duty calculators, so switching the state switches the figure without you looking anything up.

It is also why the third convention is the only one that can compare a purchase in Melbourne with a purchase in Brisbane honestly. The first two pretend the entry cost was the same.

Vacancy belongs in the numerator

A property advertised at $650 a week that sits empty for a month collected $650 for 48 weeks, not 52. Every figure on this page uses rent received, so the vacancy field moves all three at once.

The same adjustment runs backwards in the target panel: if you want a given annual return from fewer tenanted weeks, the weekly rent has to be higher. Six weeks of expected vacancy raises the rent needed for any target by about 13%, which can be the difference between a target that is achievable in the suburb and one that is not.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good rental yield in Australia?
There is no official figure for one, which is why this page does not quote a threshold. Yield is only half of what a property returns — the other half is capital growth, which a yield says nothing about — so a high yield and a low one can each suit a different buyer. What a yield figure is genuinely good for is comparing two properties on the same basis, in the same week, with the same convention — which is what this page is built to let you do.
Why is your net yield lower than the one my agent quoted?
Check the denominator first, then the outgoings. A net yield divided by the purchase price comes out higher than one divided by what you actually spent — price plus stamp duty plus registry and legal costs — and on a $750,000 purchase those acquisition costs run to tens of thousands. A figure that leaves out management, vacancy or land tax comes out higher again. Ask which costs and which denominator were used: a figure quoted without saying cannot be checked, and that is what makes it useless.
Should vacancy be in the yield?
It should if you want a number that survives contact with a real year. Yield is rent received divided by capital, and a property advertised at $650 a week that sits empty for a month received $650 for 48 weeks, not 52. Leaving vacancy out builds an assumption of permanent tenancy into the headline figure. Set it to zero if you want the theoretical maximum; the field is there so the assumption is visible either way.
Does gross yield include the stamp duty?
No — gross yield divides by the purchase price alone and subtracts nothing at all. The duty appears in the third figure on this page, net yield on outlay, which is where the money you actually handed over turns up. If you only ever look at one number, look at the gap between the first and the third.
How do I work out the rent I would need for a particular yield?
The panel does it: put in a target and it returns the weekly rent that reaches it, using the weeks you expect the property to be tenanted rather than a flat 52. Six weeks empty means the same annual income has to be earned in 46 weeks, so the weekly rent has to be about 13% higher.

Keep tallying

Calculator

Investment property calculator

The whole purchase: cash to get in, weekly cost to hold after tax, and the rent that would break even.

Open calculator →

Calculator

Strata fees

What the levies cost, and how many points of yield they take off a unit before anything else does.

Open calculator →

Sources

  • Stamp duty: each state revenue office's FY 2026-27 schedule at the investor rate, verified 2026-08-27.
  • No yield benchmark is asserted anywhere on this page. There is no official Australian figure for a "good" yield, and the ones quoted elsewhere are editorial opinion.