A rental yield printed in a brochure is the beginning of a calculation, not the answer. It usually says little about vacancy, booking fees, management, maintenance, utilities, furniture or the capital tied up before the first guest arrives.
This guide rebuilds the number from the bottom up. The calculator below lets you compare short-term and long-term rental strategies, change every assumption and carry the result directly into a project-specific conversation with BUC.
Annual rent divided by all capital invested. Useful for a first comparison, incomplete for a decision.
Income left after recurring operating costs, divided by all capital invested. Closer to economic reality.
01 · The benchmark
The market number is moving down.
Galt & Taggart estimated Batumi’s residential rental yield at 8.8% in 2024, 7.4% for 2025 and 7.1% in June 2026. The direction matters: acquisition prices have been rising faster than achievable rent, so the same apartment price now needs better occupancy, a stronger rate or lower operating costs to defend the earlier return.
This is a city-level estimate—not a promise for any unit. One apartment can outperform it through location, view, layout and operations; another can miss it despite sitting in a successful project. The correct comparison is property against property, using the same formula and the same cost assumptions.
02 · Calculate the case
Replace the headline with your assumptions.
Start with the total cash required to make the unit rentable. Then choose a strategy. Short-term income depends on nightly rate and occupied nights; long-term income depends on monthly rent and occupied months. Both must absorb management and the costs that continue whether the apartment is occupied or not.
Build your own case
Rental yield calculator.
Change every assumption. The result updates instantly and separates gross income from the net operating return.
Investment
Operating assumptions
03 · The real costs
The missing line items decide the result.
A gross yield can look precise while omitting the very costs that separate an investment from a sales pitch. The model should begin before operation and continue through every year of ownership.
Capital before launch
Furniture, appliances, closing costs and the time between payment and first income belong in the investment base.
Vacancy
Short-term occupancy varies by season. A long-term lease can still include tenant changeovers and empty months.
Distribution and management
Booking platforms, payment processing, cleaning coordination and professional management can remove a meaningful share of revenue.
Property-level costs
Building service fees, utilities, insurance, repairs, linen, replacement furniture and your applicable taxes should be budgeted explicitly.
Gross yieldannual rent ÷ total invested capital
Net yield(annual rent − operating costs) ÷ total invested capital
04 · Three scenarios
One apartment. Three very different answers.
The examples below use total invested capital of $172,000. They are not forecasts; they show how strategy and operating performance can change the outcome without changing the apartment.
The third result is attractive because the assumptions are demanding. It requires both a higher rate and stronger occupancy, then assumes operating costs remain controlled. A serious investment case should be able to survive the first two scenarios—not rely entirely on the third.
05 · Occupancy
The rate means nothing without booked nights.
At a $95 average nightly rate, moving from 45% to 70% occupancy changes annual gross income by almost $8,700. With the other calculator assumptions held constant, net yield moves from about 5.0% to 8.4%.
Galt & Taggart expects the number of short-term rental apartments in Batumi to double by 2029, which could pressure yields unless tourist demand expands at a similar pace. TBC Capital’s tourism data can help read the wider demand environment, but hotel occupancy and hotel ADR are not substitutes for evidence from a specific apartment, building and operator.
Do not ask only, “What nightly rate is possible?” Ask, “How many nights can this exact unit defend that rate?”
06 · Protecting the yield
A better asset gives the operator more room.
Operations matter, but the apartment sets the ceiling. The factors below do not guarantee a return; they improve the odds that the unit remains legible to guests, tenants and future buyers.
Defensible view and position
A sea view that cannot be built out, a quiet orientation or direct access to a genuine demand driver is more durable than a generic “near the sea” claim.
Efficient layout
Usable sleeping capacity, storage and a sensible kitchen often matter more to rentability than nominal square metres.
Operational discipline
Fast guest communication, consistent cleaning, dynamic pricing and transparent owner reporting turn a property into a functioning product.
Exit liquidity
The strongest rental unit should also make sense to a future buyer without requiring the most optimistic income scenario.
07 · The BUC view
Underwrite the downside first.
BUC would not reject a property because its conservative net yield is lower than the number in a brochure. We would reject the calculation if it hides the assumptions required to reach that number.
Build a base case from achievable rent, realistic vacancy and complete costs. Add a downside case with a lower rate or an extra empty month. Treat an optimistic case as upside—not as the condition required for the purchase to work.
The useful yield is not the biggest number. It is the number that remains believable after every assumption is challenged.