Guide — Portfolio Management
Landlord Portfolio Tracker: Track Rent, Yield & Capital Growth
A serious landlord tracks more than just rent collected. Net cashflow, yield per property, LTV movement, and capital growth are the numbers that tell you whether your portfolio is actually working. Here is everything you need to track — and the formulas to do it properly.
The nine columns every landlord tracker needs
Most landlord spreadsheets collapse because they track too little. These are the nine data points that matter — not as nice-to-haves, but as the minimum viable dataset to understand portfolio health.
| Column | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | Baseline for capital growth calculation and original LTV. |
| Current valuation | Required for accurate LTV and net yield. Update annually or after refurb. |
| Monthly rent | Gross income before any deductions. Use contracted rent, not actual collected. |
| Mortgage payment | Total monthly payment including capital repayment (or interest-only amount). |
| Monthly costs | Management fees, insurance, maintenance reserve, service charge, ground rent. |
| Net monthly cashflow | Monthly rent minus mortgage payment minus monthly costs. The real number. |
| Gross yield | Annual rent ÷ current value × 100. Quick benchmark for comparing properties. |
| Net yield | Annual profit ÷ current value × 100. What you actually earn on equity deployed. |
| LTV (loan-to-value) | Current mortgage balance ÷ current valuation × 100. Tracks financing risk. |
Rental yield formula explained
Yield is the most-quoted number in property investing, and the most misunderstood. There are two versions and they tell very different stories.
Gross yield
Gross Yield = (Monthly Rent × 12) ÷ Property Value × 100
Example: £1,200/month rent ÷ £220,000 value = 6.5% gross yield
Gross yield is the quick filter. It tells you whether a property is worth investigating further. In the UK, residential BTL properties yielding below 4% gross rarely cover costs when you factor in mortgage interest at current rates.
Net yield
Net Yield = (Annual Rent − Annual Costs) ÷ Property Value × 100
Annual costs include: mortgage interest, management fees (typically 10-15%), insurance (£200-400/yr), maintenance reserve (1% of value), void periods
Net yield is the real number. A property generating 6.5% gross often delivers only 3.2% net once management, maintenance, voids, and mortgage interest are factored in. If that 3.2% is below your cost of capital, you are losing money on a leveraged basis.
Capital growth calculation
Income return and capital return are both part of total return. A property yielding 3% net but growing at 7% annually may outperform a 6% yielder in a flat market. Track both.
Capital Growth % = (Current Value − Purchase Price) ÷ Purchase Price × 100
Example: bought for £180,000, now worth £235,000 = 30.6% capital growth
For a leveraged investment, the return on equity deployed is higher. If you put £45,000 deposit into a property that grew by £55,000, your return on equity is over 100% — before rental income. This is why portfolio landlords track total return on cash invested, not just yield.
Section 24 and its impact on your real profit
Since April 2020, individual landlords can no longer deduct mortgage interest as a business expense. Instead, you receive a 20% tax credit on mortgage interest paid. This has a dramatic impact on higher-rate taxpayers — what looked like a profitable property pre-2020 may now be cash-flow negative after tax.
Pre-Section 24
Post-Section 24
Example: £1,200/month rent, £750/month interest-only mortgage, 40% taxpayer. Section 24 turns a £1,800 annual profit into a £600 annual loss. This is why incorporating into a limited company has become popular — companies still deduct mortgage interest in full.
Related guides
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