Free calculator
Property ROI calculator
Return on investment is the profit a deal makes as a percentage of the cash you put in. For a flip that is the number that decides whether the project beat just leaving the money elsewhere; for any deal it is the great equaliser, letting a £80,000 terrace and a £400,000 semi be compared on the same footing. Enter the full cost stack and the sale price below and the calculator shows profit, ROI on cash and the margin on the sale price.
Property ROI calculator
Count every cost, or the ROI is fantasy
The formula is simple: profit divided by total money in. What separates a real appraisal from a hopeful one is what goes into total money in. Purchase price and refurb are obvious. The ones that get forgotten are stamp duty with the additional-property surcharge, legals on both the purchase and the sale, survey fees, finance arrangement fees and interest if you are using a bridge, utilities and council tax while you hold it, and the estate agent on the way out.
Worked example: purchase at £150,000, refurb £20,000, buying costs £9,000, total in £179,000. Sell at £215,000 with £4,500 of selling costs and the net sale is £210,500, a £31,500 profit. That is 17.6% ROI on cash, and a 14.7% margin on the sale price. On a project that takes eight months, the annualised return is nearer 26%.
What counts as a good ROI on a flip?
Experienced flippers in the UK generally want a margin of 15 to 20% of the end value before they commit, which usually translates to a 20%+ return on the cash employed. Below 10% margin there is no buffer: one surprise under the floorboards or a soft month in the market eats the entire profit. If the numbers only work at a 6% margin, the answer is a better purchase price, not more optimism.
ROI also has a time dimension. 15% earned in six months beats 20% earned in eighteen. When comparing projects of different lengths, divide the ROI by the number of years the money is committed to get a rough annualised figure.
Frequently asked questions
How is property ROI calculated?
Profit divided by the total cash invested, as a percentage. Profit is the net sale proceeds minus everything you spent: purchase, refurb, buying costs, holding costs and selling costs. Leaving any of those out inflates the answer.
What is a good ROI on a UK property flip?
Most experienced investors look for a profit margin of 15 to 20% of the sale price, which typically means 20% or more return on the cash in the deal. Thinner than 10% and one overrun can erase the profit.
Does ROI include mortgage or bridging finance?
Include the cost of the finance (fees and interest) in your total money in. If you fund with a bridge, your own cash in the deal is smaller, so the ROI on your cash is higher while the profit is lower. Run it both ways: cash purchase for the project quality, financed for your actual return.
What is the difference between ROI and yield?
Yield measures annual rental income against the property cost and suits buy-to-let comparison. ROI measures total profit against total cash in and suits projects with an exit, like flips and BRRR refinances. A deal can score well on one and badly on the other.
Want this run automatically on any Rightmove listing?
PropDetect runs these numbers, and the rest of the deal, on every listing that matches your criteria: refurb costs from the photos, comparable sold valuations, rent, GDV and a strong, solid or avoid verdict across six strategies. You just read the result.
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