Purpose: Work out what a property you'd buy to let really earns, before you buy it, and know which number to compare with what.
"7% yield" sounds like 7% a year in your pocket. It isn't. That figure is the rent divided by the price, before a single empty month, repair or tax bill. What's left after those is often closer to half.
This post works through two real-world examples, a flat in Bucharest and one in Budapest. All the numbers come from our free Rental Yield Calculator, so you can repeat them with the property you're looking at.
Gross yield: the number in the ads
Gross yield = yearly rent ÷ price.
A Bucharest flat costs €120,000 and would let for €700 a month:
€700 × 12 = €8,400 a year. €8,400 ÷ €120,000 = 7.0%.
That's the number agents, listings and market reports quote, so it's the one to compare with the market. According to Global Property Guide (Q3 2026), typical gross yields for apartments are:
| Area | Typical gross yield |
|---|---|
| Romania average | 5.87% |
| Bucharest | 6.91% |
| Constanța | 6.67% |
| Timișoara | 5.41% |
| Iași | 5.25% |
| Brașov | 5.15% |
| Cluj-Napoca | 4.56% |
| Hungary average | 4.82% |
| Budapest | 4.84% |
| Debrecen | 5.04% |
So 7.0% in Bucharest is about average. Gross yield is good for one thing: telling you whether the price is in line with the rent. It says nothing about what you'll earn.
Net yield: what the rent really leaves you
Net yield = (rent collected − running costs − tax) ÷ everything you put in.
Same Bucharest flat, first year:
| Per year | |
|---|---|
| Rent if let all year | €8,400 |
| Half a month empty between tenants | −€350 |
| Maintenance, 1% of the price | −€1,200 |
| Property tax and insurance | −€300 |
| Building fees you pay (€30 a month) | −€360 |
| Tax: 10% on 80% of the rent = 8% | −€644 |
| Net income | €5,546 |
And what you put in isn't just the price. Add the purchase costs (notary, land registry, about 2% in Romania: €2,400) and furnishing before the first tenant (€5,000): €127,400.
€5,546 ÷ €127,400 = 4.35% net yield. At that pace the money comes back in about 23 years.
The 7% in the ad became 4.35%. Nothing went wrong: that's what letting a flat costs.
Two things move net yield most:
- Empty months. Two months empty instead of half a month: net yield 3.59%.
- Letting an agency manage it. A 10% management fee: net yield 3.72%.
The safe-rate test
Here's the question a yield on its own can't answer: is 4.35% good?
Compare it with what the same money earns with almost no risk and no work. In Romania, Tezaur government bonds paid 6.75% a year (3-year issue, tax-free, autumn 2026). The flat earns less, and it comes with tenants, repairs and empty months.
That doesn't make the flat a bad buy. Yield leaves out price growth: if the flat gains value, that's on top. But it's a different bet, and the yield doesn't promise it. The Mortgage Reality Check lets you try a few price paths.
With a mortgage: the monthly cash flow
Most people don't buy with cash. Same flat, 30% down, the rest at 7.5% over 20 years:
- Loan €84,000, payment €677 a month.
- Net income per month: €5,546 ÷ 12 = €462.
- So you add about €215 a month from your own pocket.
Two numbers make this less grim than it sounds:
- About €1,884 of the first year's payments repays the loan. That isn't income, but it becomes yours: it builds your net worth.
- The money you put in is €43,400 (down payment, purchase costs, furnishing), not €127,400.
Still, the calculator shows a cash-on-cash return of −5.9% in the first year: on the cash you actually invested, you pay in more than you get. Before signing, make sure your budget can carry the monthly top-up for years, through empty months and repairs too, and that your emergency fund is in place.
The same flat in Budapest
A Budapest flat for 60 million Ft, let for 250,000 Ft a month:
- Gross yield 5.0%, about the Budapest average (4.84%).
- Purchase costs are higher: 4% transfer duty plus a lawyer and land registry, about 5%.
- Tax is higher too: 15% personal income tax on 90% of the rent (10% flat cost allowance) = 13.5% of the rent.
With half a month empty, 1% maintenance, 100,000 Ft tax and insurance, 20,000 Ft building fees a month and 2 million Ft furnishing:
Net income 1,546,875 Ft a year on 65 million Ft invested: 2.38% net yield, about 42 years to earn it back.
The safe alternative, the Fix Magyar Állampapír retail bond, paid 5.5%. With a 30% down payment and a 7.2% mortgage over 20 years, the payment is 330,687 Ft, above the rent itself: you'd add about 201,780 Ft a month.
Lower yields and higher costs explain most of the difference from Bucharest. In both cities, a flat at the average yield earns less than government bonds, before any price growth.
Turn it around: the most you should pay
Usually the rent is set by the market and the price is what you negotiate. So the calculator also works backwards: given this rent, what price gives the yield I want?
For the Bucharest flat at €700 a month:
| Target | Highest price |
|---|---|
| Bucharest average gross yield, 6.91% | €121,563 |
| 5% net yield | €106,492 |
| Net yield equal to Tezaur, 6.75% | €81,275 |
For Budapest, matching the 5.5% bond on a net basis means a price of about 30 million Ft, half the asking price.
These aren't valuations. They're the price at which the numbers work for you, a useful anchor when you negotiate.
What about a house?
The benchmarks above are apartment yields. There's no comparable data for houses in Romania or Hungary.
A rule of thumb: a house in the city usually yields about the same as a flat there. Far outside the city, rents and demand are different, and the city figures may not apply.
Running costs differ, though. With a house, the roof, facade and heating are yours alone, with no shared repair fund. The calculator's house setting uses 1.5% maintenance a year and higher tax and insurance, but no building fees. For the Bucharest example at the same price and rent, that's 4.05% net instead of 4.35%.
Quick checklist ✅
- Check the rent against similar listings, not the seller's estimate.
- Compare gross yield with the area average. Way above it? Find out why.
- Judge the deal on net yield: count empty months, maintenance, fees and tax.
- Count purchase costs and renovation in what you invest, not just the price.
- Compare net yield with a safe alternative such as government bonds.
- With a mortgage, check the monthly top-up fits your budget for years.
- Work backwards from the rent to the most you should pay.
The tax figures here are simplified: depending on your income, other contributions may apply (in Romania, the CASS health contribution). Tax rules change, so check with an accountant. This post is general guidance, not financial advice.