Investment Property Cash Flow Calculator

The Investment Property Cash Flow Calculator below helps you work out, before you sign a contract, whether a property will put money in your pocket every month or take it out, and by how much.

Run up to five properties side by side and you can compare a positively geared bargain against a negatively geared property in a stronger growth suburb, using the same assumptions for both. That like-for-like comparison is the real value of the tool.

Below the calculator: a worked example, a definition of every input, how to read the outputs, the mistakes we see investors make most often, and a short FAQ.

• Positive cash flow means rent coming in each week is more than everything going out, loan repayment, rates, insurance, maintenance, and management fees combined. Money lands in your account.
• Negative gearing is the opposite: rental income doesn’t cover costs, so the property runs at a loss. In Australia, that loss can currently be offset against your other taxable income, which is the “tax benefit” people mean when they talk about negative gearing.
• Positively geared is the flip side, the property makes a taxable profit rather than a deductible loss.

Neither is inherently better. Positive cash flow properties are easier to hold through rate rises, a live consideration, given the RBA’s cash rate has held at 4.35% since its 11 August 2026 decision (Reserve Bank of Australia). Negatively geared properties are usually chosen for capital growth potential, with the investor accepting a short-term cost for a longer-term gain.

A note on negative gearing rules: the 2026–27 Federal Budget has proposed grandfathering negative gearing for properties held before 7:30pm AEST on 12 May 2026, with new rules limiting it to new builds from 1 July 2027 for anything bought after that cut-off (Duo Tax). This is a proposal, not yet legislated, worth a conversation with your accountant before you rely on it either way.

The example below is entirely illustrative, a hypothetical property, not a real listing, suburb, or SuburbsFinder user data.

The property: $650,000 house, rented at $550/week, 80% LVR (20% deposit).

Upfront costs

Annual rental income: $550 × 52 weeks = $28,600 gross. A 3% vacancy allowance (about 1.5 weeks a year) brings that to $27,742 effective income.

Annual recurring costs

*Illustrative rate, check current investor loan rates with your lender.

The outputs

• Cash flow before tax: $27,742 − $40,282 = –$12,540/year, or –$1,045/month, or –$241/week. Negatively geared, before any tax benefit.
• Cash-on-cash return: –$12,540 ÷ $149,500 cash invested = –8.4%. Expressing the shortfall as a percentage of cash actually tied up is what makes it comparable across properties at different price points.
• Projected value at 6.0% average annual growth: roughly $869,800 at 5 years, $1,164,000 at 10 years, $2,084,600 at 20 years, $3,733,300 at 30 years, compounding growth on the purchase price, not a forecast.

Buy a cheaper property in a higher-yielding suburb instead, and the same maths can turn cash-flow positive. That trade-off between cash flow today and growth over time is exactly what comparing several properties side by side is meant to surface.

• Suburb/address: the property’s location, lets you weigh your numbers against suburb-level growth, yield, and vacancy context.
• State: determines the stamp duty and land tax rules applied.
• Property price: your actual offer or expected purchase price, not just the ad price.
• 10-year average annual capital growth %: the suburb’s historical growth rate. Backward-looking context, not a guarantee.
• Vacancy rate: the percentage of time you assume the property sits untenanted. Don’t set this to zero.
• LVR (loan-to-value ratio) / deposit: the loan as a percentage of the property’s value, 80% LVR means an 80% loan, 20% deposit. Most lenders charge Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) above 80% LVR, a real cost that’s easy to forget. Not sure how big a loan you’re likely to be approved for in the first place? Check our Borrowing Power Calculator.
• Stamp duty: the state/territory transfer tax on the purchase, get an exact, state-specific figure with our Stamp Duty Calculator.
• Solicitor costs: conveyancing fees to handle the contract and settlement.
• Purchase cost: other one-off costs, building and pest inspections, loan establishment fees.
• Rental revenue: gross rent expected, before costs.
• Council: annual council rates.
• Strata: body corporate fees for units, townhouses, or shared-facility schemes. Leave at zero for a standalone house.
• Water: water supply and usage charges (landlords typically pay the fixed charge; tenants pay usage).
• Insurance: landlord insurance covering the building and often loss of rent or tenant damage.
• Property maintenance: an annual allowance for repairs, every property needs this eventually.
• Property management commission: the fee a property manager charges, usually a percentage of rent collected.
• Interest from loan: the interest-only component of your loan cost, relevant to the deductible portion for gearing purposes.
• Monthly loan repayment: your actual repayment, including principal on a P&I loan, the real cash leaving your account, regardless of what’s tax-deductible.

• Cash flow before tax: the surplus or shortfall shown at three timeframes so you can check it against your pay cycle. It’s pre-tax, your accountant applies your marginal rate and depreciation afterwards to get the true after-tax figure.
• Cash-on-cash return: annual pre-tax cash flow ÷ total cash invested. Use this to compare properties at very different price points, since a $50,000 shortfall means something different on a $2 million purchase than on a $400,000 one.
• Projected property value: the purchase price compounded forward at your entered growth rate. Treat it as a scenario, not a prediction, a 10-year average can understate or overstate what happens next, so cross-check the growth assumption against current suburb data before relying on it.

• Setting vacancy rate to zero. Even in a historically tight rental market, SQM Research measured the national vacancy rate at 1.3% in June 2026, a tight average doesn’t mean any one property is never vacant.
• Underestimating maintenance. A pristine property at settlement still needs a hot water system, gutters, or a repaint eventually. Budgeting nothing flatters the cash flow figure, then gets corrected the hard way.
• Forgetting LMI. Above 80% LVR, Lenders Mortgage Insurance is a real, often five-figure, upfront cost that’s easy to leave out of “purchase cost.”
• Treating pre-tax cash flow as the final answer. Two properties with identical pre-tax cash flow can land very differently after tax, depending on your income, depreciation, and loan structure.
• Not stress-testing the interest rate. Modelling only today’s rate ignores the chance of rate rises over a 10-, 20-, or 30-year hold. Re-run the numbers 1–2% higher to see your real buffer.
• Using the 10-year growth average without context. A strong average can be dragged up by a couple of exceptional years, check what’s actually driving the number before relying on it going forward.

What’s a good cash-on-cash return for an investment property in Australia? There’s no single universal benchmark, it depends on strategy. An income-focused investor typically wants a return at or above zero; a growth-focused investor may knowingly accept a negative return in exchange for stronger expected capital growth. Weigh it against what the same cash could earn elsewhere, and your ability to fund a shortfall long-term.

What’s the difference between cash flow and cash-on-cash return? Cash flow is a dollar figure, the actual surplus or deficit. Cash-on-cash return divides that figure by the cash you invested, turning it into a percentage that lets you fairly compare a $400,000 property against a $1.2 million one.

Should I compare pre-tax or after-tax cash flow? Use pre-tax cash flow to compare properties on equal footing, since it doesn’t depend on your personal tax situation. Then take your shortlist to an accountant, or an after-tax/depreciation-aware tool, to see how negative gearing and your marginal rate change the number for you specifically.

What’s the difference between negative gearing and negative cash flow? They usually go together but aren’t identical. Negative cash flow means more cash goes out than comes in before tax. Negative gearing is the tax treatment that applies when that happens, the loss can generally be offset against your other income.

Does a higher deposit always improve my cash flow? Generally yes, a smaller loan means less interest and lower repayments. It also ties up more of your own cash in one property, so it’s a trade-off against your capacity to buy again.

Why does the calculator ask for both “interest from loan” and “monthly loan repayment”? They serve different purposes. Interest is typically the tax-deductible portion. The monthly repayment is the actual cash leaving your account, on a P&I loan, that’s higher than the interest alone, because it also includes debt paydown.

• Not sure how big a loan you can service? Start with the Borrowing Power Calculator.
• Want the after-tax picture, including depreciation? Run your shortlist through the Investment Property Tax Depreciation Calculator.
• Planning to sell one day? Model the tax impact ahead with the Capital Gains Tax Calculator.
• Need an accurate upfront cost for your state? Check the Stamp Duty Calculator.
• Want to find the right suburb before you plug in a price? Use SuburbsFinder’s suburb research tools to compare growth, yield, and vacancy data before you shortlist a property.