Rental yield, without the gross-only lie.

Treat 4.5% gross as the cashflow-strategy floor. Below that, you're buying for growth — every metric has to support a thesis on capital gains, because rent alone won't carry the holding costs. Above 5.5% gross in metro Australia usually signals a reason: lower growth prospects, body-corp risk, specific-use property, or an outer-metro / regional bet. The sweet spot depends on your strategy; our tools surface both sides so you see what you're buying into.

Net. Gross is what you see on the listing (weekly rent × 52 ÷ price). Net is what you live with after vacancy, property management, council rates, insurance, maintenance, and strata if it's a unit. The drop from gross to net is typically 25–40% — a 5% gross is usually 3.0–3.7% net. Most bank calculators only show gross, which is why first-time investors under-estimate costs by about a third. This tool shows the cascade so you see exactly where each percentage point goes.

In the capital CBDs and inner rings, rarely. The gross yield on $1M+ stock in Sydney and Melbourne sits around 3–3.5%, which doesn't survive the cost cascade — you'll be net-negative at current rates. Cashflow-positive is genuinely achievable in outer-metro Melbourne, regional Victoria, outer Brisbane, parts of Perth, and most of Adelaide. Use the 'break-even rent' finder above to see what you'd need at your price, then compare to suburb medians.

Zero-vacancy assumptions are a lie most bank calculators tell. State medians are currently 2.2–3.8% (ACT highest, WA lowest) — meaning 1–2 weeks a year without rent, every year, on average. A 5% gross on a $700K property loses about $800 to vacancy alone. We apply state-median vacancy by default; you can override if you have a suburb-specific read.

Break-even rent is the weekly rent that covers all your holding costs AND your loan interest — the rent at which you neither add nor pull from savings each year. Most investors don't know their break-even because no one shows it. Once you do, every property listing turns into a simple check: is the asking rent above or below break-even? Above = cashflow-neutral or better. Below = you're topping up from savings, and the top-up needs to make sense against expected growth.

At 37%–45% marginal rates, yes — meaningfully. A property with a $10,000 pre-tax loss generates a $3,700–$4,500 refund via negative gearing, lifting your effective yield by 0.5–1pp. That said: you're still out of pocket, just less so. Negative gearing is a tax efficiency, not a business model. If the growth thesis doesn't stand without it, the deal doesn't stand. Toggle the post-tax view above to see your position both ways.

Because yield is a pricing mechanism. In premium suburbs, buyers bid price up beyond what rent can support, because they're paying for amenity, school catchment, lifestyle — not cashflow. The yield compresses. It's not irrational; it's a signal that those suburbs are priced for growth, not income. Compass Stage 3 filters for this: if you want yield, the framework pushes you toward the middle-ring + regional-hub suburbs where rent-to-price ratios stay reasonable.

Stress-test at +100bps (1 full percentage point up). It's the Compass line — the buffer that catches most rate cycles this century. If your cashflow stays above $0/yr at +100bps, you sleep. If it goes $15,000+ negative, you may be forced to sell at the worst time. The stress-tested cashflow card above shows your position at your current rate and at stressed rate side by side.