The real yield

You enter the asking price and the rent the tenant pays today; the tool works out the gross yield and the net yield. For the net figure it deducts the expected months of vacancy, ILIA (the local property tax in Friuli Venezia Giulia), maintenance, insurance and management, and it adds purchase taxes, the notary and the agency commission to the price. The taxes are pre-filled from the statutory rates, depending on whether the seller is a business or a private individual; VAT, where it applies, is confirmed with the seller.

If you choose the zone and the building type, the tool also shows where the rent per square metre sits within the rent range of the Property Market Observatory (OMI): near the bottom, near the top, or above it. A rent above the range is not a fault, but at renewal the market could bring it down: the tool shows by how much, and at what yield.

It does not tell you what the property is worth, or whether the price is right.

The gross yield is the rent divided by the price: the figure quoted in listings. The net yield is what is actually left in a year, on everything spent to buy. The gap between the two is often wider than expected.

The position within the range runs from zero, at the OMI minimum rent, to one, at the maximum. Above one, the rent sits above anything the Observatory quotes for that zone and grade.

The spreads over the prime yield and over the ten-year BTP are there to help you get your bearings: a gross yield worked out on one case and a net yield published for the highest-grade buildings in the large cities are two different measures, and the difference between them is not a gain.