What a yield really tells you

A 7% yield on this site is twelve months of contracted rent divided by the asking price. Before tax, before upkeep, before any loan. If someone quotes a number net of everything, ask them to write the everything down.

The second number that matters is how the rent climbs. A bank branch at 5% with a 15% step every three years is a different instrument from an IT floor at 8.5% with 5% a year. Over a ten-year hold they can land in a similar place. Both are shown on every card, alongside the years left, because a yield with two years of runway is a different conversation from one with nine.

Prime high-street retail and bank branches look low next to warehouses. That is not an error. A Mumbai bank branch at 5% is buying the covenant and the location; a Bhiwandi warehouse at 9% is buying the rent. Both have a place on the register.

Maintenance and property tax are the numbers people forget. Yield here is quoted on base rent; who pays the outgoings is shown on every listing, and the ROI model nets them off.