Rental Yield Calculator UK

Rental yield is the annual rent a property generates, expressed as a percentage of its value. Gross yield ignores running costs; net yield subtracts them first, and is the number experienced landlords and letting agents actually compare. A £200,000 house letting at £1,000 a month earns £12,000 a year — a 6% gross yield — but once management, maintenance, insurance and the occasional empty month are paid for, the net figure usually lands 1.5 to 2.5 percentage points lower.

In 2026 the average gross yield across the UK sits at roughly 5.5%–6%, the healthiest it has looked in over a decade. Rents rose sharply between 2021 and 2025 while house-price growth stayed comparatively flat, which pushed yields up in almost every region. Set against today's mortgage rates, though, the margin for error is thinner than the headline number suggests: a yield that looked generous in the era of 2% borrowing may only just cover finance costs now, which is why the net calculation matters more than ever.

Region matters more than any other single factor. The North East regularly tops the yield tables, with towns such as Sunderland, Middlesbrough and County Durham producing 7%–9% gross. The North West and Yorkshire follow close behind — Manchester, Liverpool and Bradford commonly return 6%–8% — and Scottish cities such as Glasgow and Aberdeen are among the strongest in Britain. The Midlands typically sits in the 5.5%–7% band. Yields then compress as you travel south: much of the South East and South West returns 4.5%–5.5%, and London is lowest at roughly 4%–5%, with prime central London lower still. Investors in the capital are usually paying for long-run capital growth rather than income.

As a rule of thumb for 2026: anything above 7% gross is a strong income yield, 5%–6% is around the national norm, and below 4.5% needs a convincing capital-growth story to stack up. Judge everything on net yield, not gross. An 8% gross HMO can quietly become 5% net once higher management fees, utilities and licensing are counted, and a leasehold flat can lose a full percentage point to service charges alone.

Running costs are also shifting. The Renters' Rights Act 2026 has added genuine administrative workload — ombudsman and property database registration, Section 13 rent-increase paperwork and pet request handling — while the confirmed EPC C deadline for 2030 means older stock may need thousands of pounds of upgrades that belong in any honest net-yield calculation. Factor those into the running-costs boxes above rather than discovering them later.

Finally, use realistic assumptions: allow one to two void weeks a year (roughly 2%–4%) for a well-managed single let and more for student lets or HMOs, budget 8%–12% plus VAT for full management, and set aside 5%–10% of rent for maintenance — more for older properties. Optimistic inputs produce yields that only ever exist in the spreadsheet.