Almost every Onora listing publishes three return figures on the same card: gross yield, net yield, cap rate. Three different numbers for the same property, often within a few percentage points of each other.
If you're new to real estate as an asset class, the three can blur together. Here's what each actually means and what to do with it.
Gross yield
Definition: annual rent ÷ asking price.
A property listed at €500,000 that rents for €30,000 per year has a 6% gross yield. Nothing complicated.
Gross yield is the fastest way to filter listings against each other. It ignores costs entirely, which makes it a useful coarse filter — if the gross yield is below the local risk-free rate, the property generally doesn't survive any further analysis. If it's well above, you ask what the seller knows that the market doesn't.
What gross yield doesn't tell you: anything about actual returns. A property with a 7% gross yield in a country where service charges and property tax eat 35% of rent is worse than a 5% yield where running costs are 10%. Use gross yield as a sort key, not as a decision.
Net yield
Definition: (annual rent − running costs) ÷ asking price.
This is gross yield with the documented operating costs deducted: service charges, insurance, management fees, vacancy provision, local property tax. It does not include financing costs (mortgage interest), capital expenditure (roof, boiler, kitchen replacement), or transaction costs (notary, broker, transfer tax at purchase).
Net yield is where the comparison between properties becomes meaningful. A €500,000 listing with 6% gross and 4% net is the same as a €420,000 listing with 6.5% gross and 4.5% net — except the second one is more efficient at converting rent into cash you keep.
The honest version of net yield names every cost that was subtracted. On Onora that's the seller's responsibility — when you click into a listing the costs line up with the figure on the card, so you can see what's included and what isn't.
Cap rate
Definition: net operating income ÷ asking price.
Cap rate is what institutional investors use to compare commercial property across markets. The definition of "net operating income" varies slightly by source — some include vacancy reserves, some don't, some subtract a percentage for management even when the owner self-manages — but the calculation is essentially: rent minus operating costs (no financing, no capex, no income tax), divided by price.
For residential listings, cap rate often comes out within 0.2 percentage points of net yield. For commercial — offices, hospitality, mixed-use — it can diverge meaningfully because operating cost structures differ.
When you're comparing a holiday rental in Curaçao with a long-let apartment in Berlin, cap rate is usually the cleaner cross-market number. Net yield is usually the cleaner cross-property number within the same market.
What to look for on a listing card
The three figures sitting next to each other are doing different work:
- Gross yield is the sort key. Use it to filter.
- Net yield is the same-market comparison. Use it to choose between similar properties.
- Cap rate is the cross-market comparison. Use it when the properties sit in different countries or use cases.
If a listing publishes only gross yield, that's a signal the seller hasn't done the work to substantiate net or cap rate. On Onora that's allowed — figures are listed when they're documented and omitted when they're not — but it's worth asking about.
What none of these tell you
Returns. Total returns include capital appreciation, leverage, currency exposure, tax position and exit timing. None of those sit on a listing card; none of those are something Onora forecasts.
The three figures above tell you what the property earns per year, today, from rent. That's a useful start. Everything past it is your homework, your accountant's and (if you want it) a buyer's-agent's.
Onora's job is to make sure the start is honest.