Free HMO Profit & Yield Calculator: Results in Seconds

A house in multiple occupation is let room by room, so the income, the costs and the maths all work differently from a single let. The calculator handles the parts investors most often get wrong: occupancy that is never quite 100%, and running costs that are far higher than a standard buy-to-let. It works for a new purchase (include your refurbishment and setup costs) or an existing HMO (use current market value and zero setup). If you are still weighing an HMO against a standard investment property, the cost FAQs below show what the extra yield actually pays for.

What Counts as a Good HMO Yield?

Gross yields of 8-12% represent a good yield, depending on the location, with net yields typically 3-6% lower after operating expenses. Regional variations are significant. Northern England markets like Newcastle often achieve 10-15% gross yields, while higher-value Southern locations like Cambridge may only deliver 6-8% gross yields but with higher absolute rental income in pounds.

Yields above 12% generally indicate excellent opportunities or higher-risk investments requiring careful analysis. A high yield that looks unusual could indicate a red flag like unrealistic rents. The same caution applies to the occupancy figure behind it: most HMO investors use 85-95% occupancy rates, and 90% is a realistic assumption for a well-managed property in a good location. Student properties may see seasonal variations, with a summer month vacant in some smaller university towns, whereas major locations typically charge for the whole 12 months regardless of whether the tenants are in situ, made possible by the higher competition for rooms.

For the strategy behind the numbers, our guides to professional HMO investments and student HMO investments cover how experienced landlords find and run these properties.

HMO Running Costs: What to Put in the Calculator

The biggest mistake in HMO analysis is borrowing cost assumptions from a standard single let. An HMO carries costs a vanilla buy-to-let never sees: the landlord usually pays the utility bills, the communal areas need professional cleaning, and the management is more complex, so everything costs more. These are the benchmark figures we use, and they map directly onto the calculator's monthly running costs field:

Two notes on that table. Management fees run higher than standard buy-to-let costs because of the extra complexity; self-managing saves the fee but demands real time plus experience in compliance and multi-tenant management. And specialist HMO insurance is essential, because standard landlord policies exclude multi-tenant properties.

Utility bills deserve their own warning: they are a cost landlords usually cover in an HMO, unlike a vanilla buy-to-let, and they run much higher than you might expect due to multiple tenants and continuous occupancy.

HMO Calculator FAQs