Property Rental Yield Calculator Singapore 2026

Calculate gross yield, net yield, and cash-on-cash return on your Singapore investment property — free calculator with real-time SGD results.

Understanding Rental Yield for Singapore Property Investors

Rental yield is the single most important metric for evaluating whether a Singapore investment property generates enough income to justify its price tag. Yet most landlords — especially first-time property investors — focus only on the headline gross yield figure printed in property listings, missing the true cash flow picture after mortgage repayments, taxes, and running costs.

According to URA data as at Q3 2026, private residential properties in Singapore yield between 2.5% and 3.8% gross on average, with outliers in mature HDB estates and industrial-adjacent areas touching 4% to 5%. Comparing this against S-REIT distribution yields of 5% to 7% or Singapore Savings Bonds returning around 3% is a necessary exercise every property investor should perform before committing capital.

This free calculator gives you three distinct yield figures — gross yield, net yield, and cash-on-cash return — so you understand not just what the property earns, but what it earns after your actual costs and mortgage obligations. This calculator is for educational reference only and does not constitute financial advice. All figures are estimates; consult a licensed property agent or financial adviser for personalised guidance.

Gross Yield vs Net Yield: Why the Gap Matters

Gross rental yield measures annual rent divided by purchase price, expressed as a percentage. It is the simplest comparison metric, useful for screening properties at a glance. Net rental yield subtracts all annual operating costs — property tax, maintenance, agent fees, insurance — from rental income before dividing by purchase price. For a typical Singapore condo priced at S$1.2 million with monthly rent of S$3,500, gross yield is 3.50% but net yield after expenses can drop to just 2.0% to 2.5%. The difference represents your actual income, not your headline figure.

What is Cash-on-Cash Return?

Cash-on-cash return measures your net income against the actual cash you deployed — your down payment plus transaction costs — rather than the full purchase price. This is the metric that matters most when you are using a mortgage. A leveraged property purchased with a 30% down payment of S$360,000 on a S$1.2 million condo can produce a cash-on-cash return well above the gross yield if rental income comfortably covers the mortgage, or a deeply negative figure if it does not. As at Q3 2026, with bank loan rates around 3.0% to 3.5% p.a., most Singapore residential properties are slightly negatively geared — meaning mortgage costs exceed net rental income — making the cash-on-cash return a critical reality check.

How to Use This Property Rental Yield Calculator

1. Enter the Purchase Price: Input the full property purchase price in SGD — include the purchase price only, not stamp duties or renovation costs.
2. Set Monthly Rental Income: Use the slider to set your expected or actual monthly rent. Check PropertyGuru or 99.co for recent comparable listings in your area.
3. Enter Annual Expenses: Fill in property tax (IRAS assessments typically 10% of Annual Value for non-owner-occupied), estimated maintenance and repairs, agent commission (typically 1 month rent per year per tenancy), and fire insurance.
4. Add Mortgage Details (Optional): If you are using a bank loan, enter your loan amount, current interest rate, and tenure. Set loan amount to 0 if you are paying cash.
5. Read Your Results: The calculator instantly shows gross yield, net yield after expenses, annual mortgage payment, and cash-on-cash return against your down payment.

The calculator updates in real time as you adjust each input. The commentary at the bottom benchmarks your gross yield against typical Singapore residential property ranges.

Pro tip: Combine this with our Retirement Planning Calculator to see whether your rental property income contributes meaningfully to your retirement target, or whether S-REIT distributions might deliver a better passive income stream with less concentration risk.

What Is Rental Yield in Singapore?

Rental yield is the annual return a landlord earns from a property expressed as a percentage of the property price. Singapore has two commonly used measures: gross rental yield and net rental yield. Gross yield is simply (annual rent / purchase price) x 100. Net yield deducts all operating costs — property tax, maintenance, agent fees, and insurance — from the annual rent before dividing.

Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) publishes quarterly rental indices across property types. As at Q3 2026, gross residential rental yields in the Outside Central Region (OCR) averaged between 3.0% and 4.0%, while Core Central Region (CCR) properties tend to yield lower at 2.2% to 2.8%, reflecting higher prices relative to rental demand. HDB resale flats, where eligible, can yield 4.0% to 5.5% gross due to relatively lower prices versus private condominiums.

These figures matter because they benchmark your property against other Singapore investment options — Singapore Savings Bonds (SSBs) currently yielding around 3.0%, fixed deposits at 2.0% to 2.5%, and S-REITs distributing 5% to 7% annually on SGX-listed trusts. A property yielding 2.8% gross requires a compelling capital appreciation thesis to justify the illiquidity, concentration risk, and leverage typically involved.

How Rental Yield Maths Works: The Calculations Behind the Numbers

Understanding the formulas helps you spot where listings inflate or deflate yield figures. The three calculations this tool performs:

Gross Rental Yield = (Monthly Rent x 12) / Purchase Price x 100. Example: S$3,500 monthly rent on a S$1.2 million condo = S$42,000 / S$1,200,000 = 3.50% gross yield.

Net Rental Yield = (Annual Rent – Annual Expenses) / Purchase Price x 100. Using the same example with S$10,100 in annual expenses (property tax S$2,400, maintenance S$3,600, agent fee S$3,500, insurance S$600): (S$42,000 – S$10,100) / S$1,200,000 = 2.66% net yield.

Cash-on-Cash Return = Net Income After Mortgage / Cash Invested x 100. If you took a S$840,000 loan (70% LTV) at 3.2% p.a. over 25 years, your annual mortgage is approximately S$48,912. Net income = S$42,000 – S$10,100 – S$48,912 = -S$16,912. Cash invested (down payment) = S$360,000. Cash-on-cash return = -4.70%. This negative return is common in today’s Singapore market — most investors hold for capital gains, not rental income.

Factoring in a typical 1-month vacancy per year reduces effective annual rent by 8.3%, further compressing yields. Our DCA Investment Calculator can show how the same capital deployed in equities might compound over the same period.

Residential Property vs S-REITs in Singapore

Singaporeans love property. But the financial case for direct residential property over S-REITs is narrower than most investors assume. S-REITs listed on SGX distribute 90% of taxable income to unitholders, with current yields ranging from 5% to 7% on major names including Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust. These distributions are quarterly or semi-annual, with no management overhead required.

Direct residential property offers one advantage S-REITs cannot match: leverage-amplified capital appreciation. A S$1.2 million property that appreciates 5% delivers S$60,000 in unrealised gains on a S$360,000 down payment — a 16.7% return on equity before considering leverage costs. S-REITs provide some leverage internally but are capped by MAS regulations at a maximum aggregate leverage of 50%.

The key comparison for a Singapore investor: can the combination of net rental yield plus expected capital appreciation exceed total S-REIT returns (distributions plus NAV growth) over a 10-year holding period, net of ABSD for second-property buyers? For most scenarios involving second property purchases — where ABSD is 20% for Singapore citizens — the answer is a close call at best. See our Best S-REITs Singapore 2026 guide for current yield data across all major trusts.

Platforms to Access Singapore Property and REIT Investments

For direct property investors, major property portals include PropertyGuru, 99.co, and EdgeProp for research and listings. For financing, major Singapore banks — DBS, OCBC, and UOB — offer competitive home loan packages. HDB loans at 2.6% p.a. (CPF OA rate + 0.1%) remain the most predictable option for eligible HDB purchases, though they require full CPF utilisation rules to apply.

For investors considering S-REITs as an alternative or complement to direct property, low-cost brokerages and robo-advisors are the practical access points. Endowus offers unit trust access to REIT funds at institutional pricing with CPF OA and SRS investment options. Syfe provides REIT-focused managed portfolios for investors who want exposure without stock selection. FSMOne and IBKR are suitable for direct SGX-listed REIT purchases at low commission.

For yield comparison across S-REITs, our S-REIT Yield vs Bond Spread Calculator and REITs Dividend Yield Calculator help you benchmark individual trust yields against government bond rates — the same analysis institutional investors use for entry/exit decisions.

Singapore Property Tax and ABSD Impact on Rental Yield

IRAS levies property tax on all Singapore properties. For non-owner-occupied residential properties — the category all rental properties fall into — the tax is progressive based on the property’s Annual Value (AV), which IRAS assesses as the estimated annual rent at market rate. As at 2026, the non-owner-occupied residential property tax rates range from 12% on the first S$30,000 of AV to 36% on AV above S$90,000, following the revised rate schedule that came into force in 2023-2024. A condo with AV of S$36,000 (roughly matching S$3,000 monthly rent) attracts approximately S$4,440 in annual property tax — a figure many rental yield calculations understate.

Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD) is the second major cost that property yield calculators often ignore. Singapore citizens buying a second residential property pay ABSD at 20% of the purchase price. On a S$1.2 million condo, that is S$240,000 upfront — capital that earns nothing and must be factored into true cost of ownership. When you spread S$240,000 of ABSD over a 10-year holding period, it reduces effective annual return by approximately 2% per year on a S$360,000 equity base. This alone can tip a marginal rental yield investment into negative territory on a total returns basis.

Rental Property as a Passive Income Strategy for Retirement

For Singapore retirees and pre-retirees, rental income from a paid-up property is a genuinely useful income stream — stable, inflation-linked to some degree, and not correlated with equity market cycles. The challenge is building to that point. Most investors hold leveraged properties for 15 to 25 years before the mortgage is cleared, during which rental income may barely cover costs. The passive income benefit emerges fully only once the property is unencumbered.

A practical retirement income approach in Singapore often combines rental income from one paid-up property, CPF LIFE payouts from age 65, and SRS or brokerage portfolio distributions from S-REITs or ETFs. Use our Retirement Planning Calculator to model how much passive income you need and which sources fill the gap most efficiently. The Passive Income Singapore Guide covers the full spectrum of strategies — from CPF-OA-funded investments through to REIT portfolios and property income — in a single comprehensive framework.

Frequently Asked Questions

Put Your Yield Analysis Into Action

Now that you know your property yield, compare it against Singapore retirement needs and alternative income strategies. Use our free tools and referral bonuses to make your capital work harder.