Rental property calculator
Enter the price, loan, rent and costs, get cash flow and the key ratios.
Every number here is an example — replace it with your own rent, bills and quotes.
How do you calculate cash flow on a rental property?
Start with the rent at full occupancy, take off vacancy to get the rent you actually collect, then subtract operating expenses — property tax, insurance, repairs and maintenance, management, HOA dues, utilities and a reserve for big replacements. The result is net operating income (NOI). Subtract a year of loan payments (principal and interest) and you have the cash flow before income tax. The OCC's Comptroller's Handbook defines operating expenses as the costs of operating and maintaining the property, not including interest, principal or income taxes, and IRS Publication 527 lists taxes, insurance, repairs, management fees and utilities among rental expenses. Example: $2,400 a month is $28,800 a year; with 5% vacancy you collect $27,360; operating expenses of $8,429 leave an NOI of $18,931; loan payments of $17,066 leave $1,865 a year, or $155 a month.
What is a cap rate?
The capitalization rate is the ratio between a property's stabilized NOI and its sales price (OCC Comptroller's Handbook). In the example, $18,931 ÷ $300,000 = 6.31%. It ignores how you pay for the property, so it compares buildings, not loans — see the cap rate calculator to turn an NOI and a cap rate into a value.
What is cash-on-cash return?
The annual cash flow before income tax divided by the cash you put in — here the down payment plus closing costs. The California State Board of Equalization's appraisal course calls it the cash-flow rate (also “cash-on-cash” or “equity dividend rate”): NOI minus annual debt service, divided by the equity investment. In the example, $1,865 ÷ $81,000 = 2.30%.
What is the debt service coverage ratio?
DSCR is NOI divided by the annual debt service — the year's loan payments (OCC Comptroller's Handbook). Above 1.00 the property's income covers the payments; below 1.00 it does not. Lenders set their own minimums: the Office of Thrift Supervision's 2009 examination handbook said savings associations generally required 1.20 or higher, depending on the property. In the example, $18,931 ÷ $17,066 = 1.11.
What are the gross rent multiplier and break-even occupancy?
The gross rent multiplier is the price divided by the annual gross rent. The California Board of Equalization's appraisal course derives its multiplier as the sale price divided by potential gross income — $850,000 ÷ $126,000 = 6.75 in its example — and uses rental income only for the rent version. Break-even occupancy is operating expenses plus debt service divided by gross income before vacancy; the OTS handbook calls it the breakeven ratio, and its $1,000,000-rent example comes to 78.5%, so vacancy could rise from 5% to about 22% before a loss. Here the example has a multiplier of 10.42 and a break-even occupancy of 88.5%; the management fee, a percentage of rent collected, is kept at the vacancy you enter.
What do the percentages in the form mean?
Vacancy, repairs and maintenance, and management are percentages you choose. The 5%, 5% and 8% in the form are examples, not typical or recommended figures — use your own rent history, bills and quotes. Vacancy and repairs are percentages of the gross rent at full occupancy; management is a percentage of the rent collected. Rent lost while the property is empty is lost income, not an expense (IRS Publication 527). To count laundry or parking income, add it to the rent.
What does this calculator leave out?
It is a one-year snapshot. Income tax and depreciation, rent and expense growth, appreciation, major improvements you have not entered, selling costs and the lender's own underwriting (which may count rent differently) are not included.
Estimates for planning only — not financial, tax or legal advice. Your lender, plan or tax professional decides. Sources: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Comptroller's Handbook, “Commercial Real Estate Lending” (version 2.0, March 2022); Office of Thrift Supervision Examination Handbook, section 210, Appendix A (2009, archived by the OCC); California State Board of Equalization, “The Income Approach to Value,” lessons 9 and 10; IRS Publication 527, Residential Rental Property (2025). See also the cap rate calculator and the mortgage calculator. How we check our calculators.