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How to use the Property Analyser

The Property Analyser grades a buy-to-let before you buy it. You enter the price, the bond, the rent and the running costs, and it scores the deal on the numbers that decide whether a rental pays: cashflow, yield, and the return on the cash you put in.

Updated 15 June 2026 · THL Property Group

The Property Analyser answers a blunt question. If you buy this flat and let it out, does it make money, and how much? It runs your rent against every cost, the bond included, and grades the result against South African benchmarks rather than the US rules of thumb most calculators still use.

Here is the honest truth it surfaces early: a bonded buy-to-let in South Africa is usually cashflow-negative for the first few years. The tenant slowly buys the asset for you while you top up the gap. The tool shows you how big that gap is, and the year it closes.

What you'll need

• The purchase price, your deposit, and the bond rate and term. Prime is 10.5% as at June 2026, and most buy-to-let bonds are quoted near it.
• The market value, if it differs from the price. Buying below value books instant equity.
• The monthly rent you expect, and the months a year the unit might stand empty.
• The running costs: levies, rates and taxes, repairs, the managing agent's commission, and anything else.
• Any once-off setup money, like paint or a stove, under Renovations.

How to use it

Enter the property and bond first. The deposit slider and the rand field move together, so you can set a deposit by percentage or by amount. Leave the bond repayment on Auto unless you hold a quote, then switch to Manual and type it.

Set the purchase costs next. On Auto the tool works out the SARS transfer duty and estimates the attorney and bond registration fees. Switch to Manual when you have firm figures.

Then fill in the rent and every running cost. Be honest about vacancy and the agent's commission. Those are the costs people leave out, and then wonder why the real return disappoints.

Reading your result

The headline is the overall purchase read: Good, Average or Weak, with a tally of how many of the six checks passed. Below it sit the six graded cards: monthly cashflow, the 1% rule, gross yield, net yield, cash-on-cash return and the expense ratio, each marked against a target you can change under Adjust grading targets.

The defaults are South African. Gross yield is graded against about 11%, the national average the Global Property Guide reports for 2026. Joburg runs higher, Cape Town lower.

The cashflow-turns-positive chart is the one to study. It escalates the rent each year while the bond stays fixed, and marks the year the deal moves into the black. The donut shows where the rent goes; the position-over-time chart adds the equity you build as the bond shrinks.

A worked example

Take an R1,100,000 flat with R330,000 down, a 30% deposit, bonded at 11.5% over 20 years and let at R10,500 a month. Levies R1,150, rates R880, repairs R480, an 8% agent, two weeks a year vacant.

Gross yield clears the 11% target, so the property earns its keep. The cashflow is still negative by R1,499 a month, because the bond and costs run just ahead of the rent. The chart shows that gap closing and the cashflow turning positive in year 3, as the rent escalates and the bond does not. A workable SA rental: a small top-up now, an appreciating asset, positive cashflow later.

What it does not do

It does not model income tax, and it leaves property appreciation out of the position chart on purpose, to keep the view conservative. The grading is a screen at your own numbers and your own targets, not a valuation or advice. Capital gains tax when you sell, and the tax on rental profit each year, have their own tools under Tax.

Weighing whether to buy at all? The Rent vs Buy calculator compares owning against renting and investing the difference. When you are ready, open the Property Analyser and grade your own deal.

Money Cat is an information tool, not financial or investment advice. The rate shown is the SARB prime as at June 2026; your own rate, costs and rental will differ. Confirm the numbers before you rely on them.