How to calculate cash-on-cash return
The formula is trivial. Almost every mistake happens in the denominator, and it always flatters the deal.
The short answer
Cash-on-cash return is annual pre-tax cash flow divided by the total cash you put into the deal. The numerator is straightforward; the errors are nearly all in the denominator, where closing costs, rehab and carrying costs during the work get left out and inflate the result.
The formula
cash invested = down payment + closing costs + rehab + carrying costs during rehab
annual cash flow = (rent - operating expenses - mortgage payment) x 12
cash-on-cash = annual cash flow / cash invested
Pre-tax and pre-appreciation, deliberately. It answers one question only: what this deal returns in cash on the money you actually handed over.
Worked example
A $285,000 property, 20% down, $8,550 in closing costs, $6,000 of work before letting, producing $285 a month of cash flow:
down payment = 57,000
cash invested = 57,000 + 8,550 + 6,000 = 71,550
annual cash flow = 285 x 12 = 3,420
cash-on-cash = 3,420 / 71,550 = 4.78%
using the down payment alone = 3,420 / 57,000 = 6.00%
The same deal reads 4.78% or 6.00%. The higher figure is the one that gets quoted, and it is wrong by a quarter because it pretends the closing costs and the rehab were free.
Everything that belongs in cash invested
Down payment, loan fees and points, legal and survey costs, transfer taxes, and the rehab needed before a tenant can move in.
Carrying costs during the work. Mortgage payments, insurance and utilities for the two months the property is empty are money you put in and never see again, and they belong in the denominator as much as the new kitchen does.
Furniture and appliances where you supply them. Small individually, and on a furnished let they can be several thousand.
Why the first year usually looks worst
Year one carries the acquisition costs while producing a partial year of rent, so the return is depressed by definition. That is not a warning sign, it is arithmetic.
The figure worth comparing between properties is stabilised cash-on-cash: a full year of rent against the full cash invested. Comparing one property's first year to another's third tells you about timing rather than about the properties.
What it deliberately ignores
Principal paydown, which is real wealth accruing even when cash flow is thin, and appreciation, which may be the largest return of all and is entirely a forecast.
That omission is the point. Cash-on-cash answers whether the deal feeds itself, and a property that needs feeding every month is a different proposition from one that does not, regardless of what it might be worth in ten years.
What this leaves out
- Pre-tax. Depreciation and interest deductibility change the after-tax return substantially and vary by country and structure.
- Assumes a fixed mortgage payment. Variable-rate debt makes this a range rather than a number.
- Excludes capital expenditure reserves unless you deduct them from cash flow, which you should. See the maintenance guide.
This arithmetic is free to run in your browser — no signup, nothing held back.
Open the free calculatorCommon questions
- What is a good cash-on-cash return?
- It depends on what else your money could do and on the risk you are taking. The comparison worth making is against a genuinely passive alternative, because a rental is not passive and the extra return has to pay for the work.
- Should I include principal paydown?
- Not in this figure. It is real value but it is not cash you can spend, and mixing it in produces a number that looks healthy while your account does not. Track it separately.
- How does cash-on-cash differ from cap rate?
- Cap rate describes the building with no financing in it. Cash-on-cash describes your deal on that building, including the loan. Two buyers of the same property share a cap rate and can have very different cash-on-cash returns.
Spreadsheets that do this
The formulas above, already built and checked — so you fill in your numbers rather than the arithmetic.
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Last reviewed 22 August 2026