Rental return

'Rental return' is a catch-all term used in everyday property conversation that usually maps to either gross yield or net yield depending on context. Real estate agents typically quote it as gross (it's a bigger number, looks better in marketing). Investors and accountants typically mean net. When someone tells you a property has a 'rental return of 5%', the safe move is to ask 'gross or net?' before doing any further math. Net rental return is the more useful number for buying decisions because it controls for cost-structure differences between properties. Once you layer financing and tax on top, you move from rental return into cashflow analysis.