ROI calculator
What return is your property really earning?
Yield measures return against the property's value. ROI measures it against the cash you actually put in — so it shows how hard your money is working, including the effect of borrowing.
Your numbers
Total return on investment
18.3%
Cashflow plus capital growth, on the cash you invested — for one year.
Cash-on-cash return
−1.4%
Just the net cash the property puts in your pocket — before any capital growth.
How we got there
- Rental income
- A$33,800
- Less running costs
- − A$36,500
- Net cashflow
- −A$2,700
- Plus capital growth
- + A$37,500
- Total annual gain
- +A$34,800
- ÷ Cash invested
- A$190,000
Return is shown for a single year on the cash you put in. It excludes tax and assumes your growth estimate holds. Figures update as you type.
Two ways to read your return
Property investors usually look at return two ways. Both measure gains against the cash you invested — the difference is whether you count the rise in the property's value.
Cash-on-cash return
Net cashflow ÷ cash invested
Takes the cash the property actually puts in your pocket over a year — rent minus every running cost, including loan interest — and divides it by the cash you tied up (deposit plus purchase costs). It tells you how the property performs as an income stream today, ignoring any change in its value.
Total return on investment
(Net cashflow + capital growth) ÷ cash invested
Adds the estimated rise in the property's value to the year's net cashflow, then divides by the cash you invested. Because you borrowed to buy, growth is measured against your deposit — not the full price — which is why leverage can make total ROI much larger than the yield.
A worked example
You buy a $750,000 property with a $150,000 deposit and $40,000 of purchase costs — $190,000 of your own cash. It rents for $650 a week ($33,800 a year) and costs $36,500 a year to hold, so net cashflow is −$2,700. On its own that's a cash-on-cash return of about −1.4%. But if the property also grows 5% — $37,500 — your total gain is $34,800, a total ROI of roughly 18.3% on the $190,000 you invested. That gap is the effect of leverage: growth is earned on the whole property, but measured against your deposit.
What this calculator leaves out
- Tax — ROI here is calculated before any tax on income or gains.
- It's a single-year snapshot; it doesn't compound growth or model the full holding period.
- Capital growth is your estimate, not a guarantee — values can fall as well as rise.
- Principal repayments aren't counted as a cost, since they build equity rather than disappear.
Akweno tracks the real return on every property as you record rent, costs and valuations — so you can see actual cash-on-cash and total return across your whole portfolio without a spreadsheet. Start free.