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 lets you set an occupancy rate, to allow for rooms sitting empty between tenants. You also enter the running costs, which can be much higher than on 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.

You can also test conventional buy to let property alongside below market value properties, entering each deal's real setup and running costs rather than comparing headline yields alone.

Article updated: September 2026

The figures on this page were last updated in June 2026.

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.

Some areas, such as Newcastle, do produce yields above 12%. A yield well above what similar HMOs nearby achieve can mean the rents used to work it out are too optimistic. The same goes for 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 between tenancies. In the major university towns and cities, though, landlords typically charge rent for the whole 12 months, whether or not the tenants are living there, because there is more competition for rooms than in smaller university towns.

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 comes with extra running costs. The landlord usually pays the utility bills, the communal areas need cleaning, and management fees are higher because the management is more complex. 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