Investment Property Cashflow Calculator

Your purchase

Purchase price
$
Deposit amount
$
Would you like to calculate depreciation?
Interest rate (See special offers)
%
Property type
Growth rate of property
%
Number of borrowers

Income details

Gross income p.a. ?
$
Gross income p.a. (borrower 2) ?
$
Rental income
$
Increase in rent p.a.
%

Expenses per annum

We've estimated the expenses for your investment property.
Please change these figures as you see fit.
Repayments
Council rates
$
Strata
$
Insurance ?
$
Repairs and maintenance
$
Water rates
$
Property management fees Property mgmt. fees ?
%
Inflation
%

Contact a mortgage broker

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Purchase

Use the investment property calculator to accurately predict the weekly cashflow position of your next investment property.

How to use this calculator

Simply enter the details of the investment property that you want to purchase and your income and our calculator will work out the rest for you.

  • Step 1: Enter the details of the purchase including property price and your deposit.
  • Step 2: Enter your income and the expected rent income.
  • Step 3: Enter the costs associated with the property (our calculator will estimate some of them for you).

Speak to our mortgage brokers today by calling 1300 889 743 or by filling in our free assessment form to find out how we can help you with an investment loan.

What is investment property cashflow?

You should see each investment property that you own as a separate mini-business.

You have income and you have expenses associated with the property and you either make a loss or a profit each week.

If your interest, repairs, maintenance, council rates, water rates, insurance and property management fees are more than your rent income then the property has a negative cashflow.

That means you need to put in a little money each week to cover the shortfall.

Most properties have a negative weekly cashflow at the time they are purchased but, as they grow in value, positive cashflow outstrips the weekly costs so the investor makes a profit.

Over time the rent increases and the property becomes positively geared.

Some properties have a positive cashflow from the moment that they are purchased.

If so, then well done to you!

Often, these types of properties are in mining towns, remote locations or they’re blocks of units.

Negative gearing can significantly improve the cashflow of your property if you have a high taxable income.

Investors who are on the top two tax brackets tend to benefit the most from negatively-geared properties as long as they have a high growth rate.

However, this can vary depending on your overall situation, so check out the negative gearing vs positive gearing page to compare the pros and cons of each investment strategy.

Also, read about managing cash flow while negative gearing.

Calculating your income

The cash flow calculator needs to know your taxable income so that it can work out the benefits you may receive from depreciation and negative gearing.

If you’re not sure how much rent you’ll receive from your property, use 4% of the value for a house or 5% for a unit or townhouse.

This will give you your annual rent income, which you can then divide by 52 to find out the weekly rent income.

Calculating property expenses

Our investment property cashflow calculator will automatically estimate many of the expenses associated with your property.

Expenses that the investment property calculator will consider

  • Council rates
  • Water rates
  • Building insurance
  • Property management fees
  • Maintenance
  • Home loan repayments

Expenses that the investment property calculator won’t consider

You may qualify for an LMI discount so complete our free assessment form to find out more.

Calculating negative gearing benefits

Negative gearing is where you make a loss on the cashflow of your investment property and then claim that loss as a deduction when you lodge your tax return.

You’ll receive a tax refund for part of this loss so the government is effectively subsidising your investment property.

For example, let’s say that your income was $100,000 and your property made a loss of $10,000 per annum.

Your taxable income would be $90,000 and if the tax rate at the time was 30%, you’d receive $3,000 as an additional tax refund.

That’s an oversimplification: our calculator can work it out exactly using up to date tax rates.

How does depreciation work?

When a property is built, the building itself will degrade over time until, eventually, the house needs to be rebuilt.

This decline in value of the building can be deducted for tax purposes.

Depreciation isn’t an actual expense that you need to pay but an accounting entry.

Effectively, you save tax without actually having any cost affecting your weekly cashflow.

Depreciation is a complicated subject so please talk to your accountant for more information.

Apply for an investment loan

Once you’ve played out with the investment property calculator, we can help you qualify for an investment loan to buy a new property.

Speak to our mortgage brokers by calling 1300 889 743 or fill in our free assessment form to find out if you can qualify for a professional discount on your interest rate.

  • Michael

    I was wondering whether it is possible to do a 100% home loan for an investment property if you already have one house on mortgage? Will we be able to borrow by using equity from the current home mortgage?

  • Hi Michael,

    The maximum you can borrow for an investment property is 95% + LMI. However, If you have enough equity in your existing property, we can definitely look at borrowing the full amount for your investment property purchase.

    You could borrow 100% of the property value along with as stamp duty and other associated fees as well.
    https://www.homeloanexperts.com.au/guarantor-home-loans/
    https://www.homeloanexperts.com.au/lenders-mortgage-insurance/lmi-calculator/

  • Laidler

    I’d used this calculator before and it helped me plan out my property purchase quite nicely. Now do you also have an explanation about the info that I’ll need to provide to my accountant for tax calculations?

  • Hey Laidler,

    We’re glad to know that the calculator helped you plan things out. We do have a page on investment property documents for tax where there’s a lot of info on how to prepare for when tax times comes and what documents and additional info your accountant will need. Here’s the link to the page:
    https://www.homeloanexperts.com.au/investment-loans/investment-property-documents-for-tax/

  • Copland

    What are the current fixed rates on investment mortgages?

  • Hello Copland, you can check out the current fixed rates on investment loans as well as how you can avoid getting overcharged on the fixed rate investment loans page:
    https://www.homeloanexperts.com.au/investment-loans/fixed-rate-investment-loans/

  • alice

    Might I get some tips to manage my cash flow in the case of a negatively geared property?

  • Hi alice,

    Negative gearing is a great way to reduce your tax bill while building your property portfolio but it can put a strain on your cash flow. We have compiled some tips and ideas that can help manage your investment loan repayments and the other costs, which you can read here:
    https://www.homeloanexperts.com.au/investment-loans/manage-cash-flow-negative-gearing/

  • Jake

    How do lenders actually access negatively geared investment properties?

  • Well some lenders won’t take negative gearing benefits into account when assessing your ability to afford the mortgage. In addition to this, most lenders may not use the full amount of your rent income in their assessment. You’ll need to have a strategy in place to use several lenders to achieve your investment goals so you can maximise your borrowing capacity, manage exposure to each LMI company and lender as well as avoid cross securitisation of your portfolio.

  • Richter

    I would like to consolidate my investment loan debt and place it under my residential home loan so I can free up the investment property. Can you help me with this?

  • We may be able to help but the problem is that you can’t restructire investment debt into a residential/ owner-occupied home loan debt. However, we do have a few creative solutions in mind that may be able to tackle this. Please call 1300 889 743 to discuss this with one of our experts.

  • Saraah

    I’m planning to buy a property as an investment. I’ve heard that I could reduce my taxes out of investment property, how is it possible?

  • Hi Saraah,
    Usually on an investment property, you are normally permitted to claim the net loss as a tax deduction against your other income. So, any expenditure on the property may be subject to attractive tax deductions. Property owners can commonly claim on things such as maintenance, rates and insurance.
    In addition, If your interest and running costs add up to more than your investment income you make a loss which is called “negative gearing” https://www.homeloanexperts.com.au/investment-loans/what-is-negative-gearing/. The aim of this strategy is to benefit from getting into the market early and over time increasing your investment income to cover your expenses. For tax advice though, it’s best to speak to your accountant to find a solution that best meets your financial situation and future investment plans.
    You can go through our investment page https://www.homeloanexperts.com.au/investment-loans/ for more information or contact us to speak with one of the mortgage brokers.

  • Funaki

    Home loan interest rates are going up and it seems like we’ll be paying more interest very soon. Do you think it is best if we fix our rates to avoid having to pay more if the rates were to increase?

  • Hey Funaki,
    Most Australians switch to fixed home loans because of the possibility of even higher interest rates in the future. In terms of trying to time the market, it’s difficult to determine when the right time is to fix your rate. Obviously, fixing at the trough is ideal but how do you know rates won’t go even lower? The short answer is that you don’t.
    By speaking with a mortgage broker, we can give you some indication rates are likely to do in the near future but the more important discussion we have with you is what you plan to do with your mortgage over the next few years.
    For example, do you just want to pay the bare minimum on your mortgage repayments because you have other commitments like children or do you want to make extra repayments?
    There are other pros and cons of having fixed interest rate mortgage including whether you plan to refinance in order to access equity for investment purposes.

  • larry schumaker

    I own a home that was valued at $700,000 in 2016. My mortgage balance at that time was $516,000. My daughter bought into the home with $42,000. In my eyes, that was a 6% investment. We sold the house for $860,000. We equally paid 50% of the monthly mortgage for a 2 year period. There is no legal contract between us. What is the appropriate amount of equity/profit that I owe her for her investment? Do I owe her for the mortgage principal going down due to the monthly payments? If so, at what percentage (i.e. 50% or 6%?). What percentage of equity (i.e. 50% or 6%) does she earn from the sale of the house ($700,000 – $860,000)?

  • Hi Larry,
    Generally it would depend on the % ownership each of you had on title. E.g. if you had 50% ownership each then it’s 50% of the profit each.
    However if it was a friendly agreement where you were 100% on title but your daughter contributed money and repayments then it’s a bit trickier. Generally if the mortgage was $516,000 ($258,000 each) and she put in $42,000 cash ($300,000 total contribution) then of the $700,000 she contributed $300,000 or 42.86%. So she should receive that share of the profits.
    It really comes down to what you agreed on. If you can’t decide between the two of you what is fair then you should seek legal or financial advice to determine what is fair.