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The Global Insight

What cap rate should I look for in a rental?

Author

James Williams

Updated on March 10, 2026

In general, a property with an 8% to 12% cap rate is considered a good cap rate. Like other rental property ROI calculations including cash flow and cash on cash return, what’s considered “good” depends on a variety of factors.

How do you calculate property value using cap rate?

It assigns a property value equal to the net operating income divided by the cap rate. For example, a small rental property in San Francisco with a net operating income of $100,000 and a cap rate of 7 percent is valued at $1,428,571. The same property with a 10 percent cap rate would have a value of $1 million.

What is a bad cap rate?

However, generally speaking, a cap rate between 4 percent and 10 percent is fairly typical and considered to be a good cap rate. A good or bad cap rate can be very subjective to various investors, depending on their individual investing strategies.

Is a high or low cap rate better?

Buyers usually want a high cap rate, or the purchase price is low compared to the NOI. But, as stated above, a higher cap rate usually means higher risk and a lower cap rate usually means lower risk. When deciding a good cap rate, make sure you are comparing the same property types in similar areas.

Is cap rate the same as ROI?

A cap rate is largely tied to the value of the real estate, while ROI directly relates to the investor’s personal return on investment based on the money they’ve put into the investment property.

What to look for in a rental property spreadsheet?

Finally, the discounted cash flow (DCF) tab is a great way to see both your after-tax and before-tax returns on your rental property. This also shows your total profit, tax implications, internal rate of return and multiple on invested capital. Use this tab to evaluate the opportunity and whether or not it is worth the risk.

Which is the best site to advertise for rental property?

They found a great tenant for my rental property as per my demands. NoBroker.com is a free property ad posting site that I have tried before. I found that it aids me well and gets the right tenants for my properties. This is the second time I am trying them and my expectation was higher.

How can I See my rental property returns?

I simply can’t bank on that. Finally, the discounted cash flow (DCF) tab is a great way to see both your after-tax and before-tax returns on your rental property. This also shows your total profit, tax implications, internal rate of return and multiple on invested capital.

How to figure out your rental property expenses?

As a rental property owner, it is important to factor in rental property expenses when setting a budget. Mashvisor’s rental property calculator allows you to input such expenses to accurately calculate your potential cash flow and return on investment. Check out how we calculate rental property expenses.