Ask five sources for Dhaka's rental yield and you will get five answers. Numbeo's mid-2026 index puts Dhaka's gross rental yield at about 2.8 to 2.9 per cent. A Daily Star analysis from earlier this year put typical apartment yields at roughly 2.5 to 3.5 per cent. Local property guides, meanwhile, cite averages near 7 per cent, and higher still for mid-range areas. They are not all lying. They are measuring different things — asking prices versus achieved rents, premium areas versus mid-range ones, and gross income versus income after costs. That is precisely why an investor should calculate yield for a specific flat, rather than borrow a city average.
The three yields, in order of honesty
Gross yield is annual rent divided by the purchase price. A Tk 1 crore flat rented at Tk 35,000 a month brings in Tk 4,20,000 a year, a gross yield of 4.2 per cent. It is easy to calculate and easy to inflate: use an asking price that no buyer would pay, or a rent the flat has never actually achieved, and the number flatters itself.
Net yield subtracts the costs of owning before dividing. From that Tk 4,20,000, deduct a service charge of, say, Tk 6,000 a month (Tk 72,000 a year), routine maintenance and repairs of Tk 30,000, and one month of vacancy between tenants (Tk 35,000). The net rent is Tk 2,83,000, and the net yield on the same Tk 1 crore flat is 2.8 per cent — a third lower than the gross figure. This is the number that resembles reality.
Yield on total cost goes one step further and divides by everything the buyer actually spent. Registration and related charges on a Dhaka flat typically add roughly 8 to 14 per cent to the price. On a Tk 1.1 crore all-in cost, that Tk 2,83,000 of net rent is a yield of about 2.6 per cent. Investors who ignore purchase costs systematically overstate their return.
Cash-on-cash return applies when the flat is bought with a loan: annual net rent minus annual loan payments, divided by the cash actually invested. With home-loan rates in Bangladesh currently in a broad band of roughly 9 to 13 per cent, and the Bangladesh Bank policy rate at 9.5 per cent, financing costs can easily exceed the net rental income. A flat with a respectable gross yield can still lose money every month once the instalment is paid. That is not a failed investment; it is a leveraged purchase whose return depends on price growth, not rent.
What a realistic yield looks like
For most Dhaka apartments, a gross yield in the region of 3 to 5 per cent is a realistic planning range, with premium areas like Gulshan and Banani at the lower end — high prices, stable tenants — and smaller, mid-range flats in areas like Uttara and Mirpur at the higher end, where lower purchase prices lift the ratio. Figures far above that range should prompt questions: is the rent actually being achieved, or is it an asking rent? Is the flat occupied year-round? Are service charges and maintenance included?
The limits of yield
Yield measures income, not total return, and it says nothing about four risks that decide whether a flat was a good investment:
- Voids. A flat empty for two months a year loses a sixth of its annual rent. Tenant turnover, repainting and re-letting time are real costs that a single yield figure hides.
- Maintenance. Lifts, pumps, waterproofing and fittings deteriorate. A building with a weak maintenance fund will eventually hand owners a large one-time bill.
- Price risk. Yield ignores capital growth — or decline. A flat yielding 4 per cent that loses 10 per cent of its value has not returned 4 per cent. Conversely, a low-yield flat in a rising area may still reward its owner. Yield and price growth must be judged together.
- Liquidity and effort. A flat cannot be sold in a day, and managing tenants takes time or a manager's fee. Compared with a bank deposit, the return must compensate for illiquidity and work, not merely match it.
Using yield properly
- Calculate it for the specific flat, using the rent actually achieved by comparable flats in the same building or street — not the advertised rent.
- Always calculate net yield, and state whether purchase costs are included in the denominator.
- Stress-test it: one month void, a 10 per cent rise in service charges, and a two-point rise in the loan rate.
- Compare it with the after-tax return on the alternatives for the same money, and with the effort involved.
Rental yield is a useful screening tool and a poor verdict. It tells an investor which flats deserve a closer look, not which flat to buy. The flats that pass the screen are the ones whose rent is real, whose costs are counted honestly, and whose return survives contact with vacancies, repairs and interest rates.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Yields vary by area, building and tenant; verify rents and charges for the specific flat before investing.
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