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Loan calculator Bahrain › Rental yield and ROI calculator (Bahrain)

Estimate only — not financial advice. Only your lender's offer is binding.

Rental yield and ROI calculator (Bahrain)

Updated

Example: a BHD 80,000 flat rented at an example BHD 5,400 a year, 1 month empty, BHD 500 a year in estimated costs, a manager at an example 5% and BHD 5 once a year for the lease registration (a fixed BHD 5 per registration of a home lease under Ministerial Order 9/2015, paid by the landlord; assumed once a year for a yearly lease). Gross yield 6.75% (rent ÷ price), net yield 5.25% in year 1 (what the rent leaves you ÷ price). With 30% down and a loan of BHD 56,000 at an example 5.5% over 20 years (instalment BHD 385.217 a month; BHD 26,266.000 of your own cash on the day, with the 1.7% registration fee and your half of the broker with VAT), the rent falls BHD 425 a year short of the instalments, so you add money each year. Rent is VAT-exempt. Rent and costs are yours to enter; whether the price rises is your guess.

This page: a home or flat you buy to rent out (long-term lease). What the rent returns on the price and on your own cash, in plain words — with the lease registration fee the landlord pays. Non-Bahrainis may buy only in certain areas — see who may buy. For a home you live in, use rent or buy?.
100 = all cash. CBB sets no minimum down payment — your bank decides. 30% is only an example.
5.5% is an example rate — CBB sets no maximum rate, so use the one in your offer. Assumed to stay the same.
An example — use your offer's. A loan on a property you let may count as consumer finance (at most 7 years and the 50% check) unless your bank treats it as business finance — ask how it classes the loan.
12 × the monthly rent. BHD 5,400 is only an example — look up what similar homes rent for; there is no official rent level or yield.
Between tenants, repairs. Your estimate.
Yearly costs
BHD 5 per registration of a home lease — Ministerial Order 9/2015 (BHD 10 for other uses), paid by the landlord; assumed once a year for a yearly lease. Enter your own figure.
Set by each owners' association's own budget — no official figure. Enter yours; empty = none.
No official number — your estimate; BHD 400 is only an example.
No official number — your estimate; BHD 100 is only an example.
0 if you manage it yourself; 5% is only an example.
We found no official rate for a letting broker. Enter what you are quoted; leave empty if there is none.

Rent on a home is exempt from VAT. A tenant's deposit is at most 1 month's rent and advance rent at most 3 months — money you hold, not income.

If you keep it and sell later

Your half of RERA's 2% plus 10% VAT. Empty = no broker.

Nobody knows how rents and prices will move. For a sitting tenant the rent law allows a rise only after 2 years, 5% at a time, unless agreed otherwise in writing. Fill in up to three sets of your own guesses; the results appear side by side.

Guess 1
Guess 2
Guess 3

Fills 0%, 3% and 6% into guesses 1, 2 and 3. Round test numbers, not a forecast. Replace them with your own.

Buying costs that depend on your deal
Registration filed within 60 days of notarization?
1.7% within 60 days, 2% later. The same rate is used when you sell.
Who pays the registration fee?
The law does not say — as agreed in your contract. The same split is used when you sell.
RERA: 2%, half each unless agreed otherwise in writing; 10% VAT is added. 0 = no broker.
Your offer. CBB's cap on a home loan goes by loan size: BHD 200 for a loan up to BHD 150,000, BHD 300 up to BHD 250,000 and BHD 500 above; 10% VAT is added.
Gross yield6.75%rent ÷ price: the headline number, before any cost
Net yield5.25%what the rent leaves you after costs ÷ price
Return on your own cash, year 1-1.62%

Year 1, in dinars

Fill in at least one guess (both boxes) to see what happens if you keep it and sell, or press "Try with simple round numbers".

Cash on the day

    Not a valid document. Estimate for information only — not financial advice, not an offer of credit and not a bank document. Errors are possible. Only your bank's or finance company's official offer letter, contract and statements are binding.

    The four numbers, in plain words

    • Gross yield — the yearly rent divided by the price. The number agents quote. It ignores every cost.
    • Net yield — what the rent leaves you after empty months, the lease registration, service charges, maintenance, insurance, the manager and (in year 1) the letting broker, divided by the price. The honest version of the first number.
    • Return on your own cash — the cash the rent leaves you after the loan instalments, divided by the cash you put in on the day. With a loan this can be negative: the rent does not cover the instalments, and you pay the difference every year.
    • Profit if you sell — everything the rent left you over the years, plus what the sale leaves after your share of the registration fee, the broker and paying off the loan, minus the cash you put in. The "yearly rate your cash earned" turns that into one percentage you can compare with a savings rate — it counts when each dinar came in or went out.

    Finance for a property you rent out

    A loan secured by a first charge on the home you live in (or will live in) is not "consumer finance": its instalment is outside the 50% consumer-finance limit. CBB's exclusion from consumer finance covers only a first-charge loan on a home the borrower lives in or intends to live in. So a loan on a property you let may count as consumer finance — at most 7 years, and its instalment inside the 50% check on your monthly gross income — unless the bank treats it as business finance. Ask your bank how it classes the loan. CBB sets no minimum down payment and no maximum rate; it caps the processing fee on a home loan (at most BHD 200 for a loan up to BHD 150,000, BHD 300 up to BHD 250,000 and BHD 500 above, plus 10% VAT) and early settlement on a home loan (the lower of 0.75% or BHD 200, plus 10% VAT on the fee). Enter the terms of your offer.

    VAT and service charges

    Renting a home is VAT-exempt; hotels and serviced accommodation carry 10% (a lease of a year or more never counts as serviced accommodation). Owners' association service charges come from each association's own budget — enter your own figure.

    What the rules say

    • Lease registration: A lease must be in writing and registered within one month of signing; courts do not hear claims on unregistered leases. The fee for a home is a fixed BHD 5 (BHD 10 for other uses — Ministerial Order 9/2015), paid by the landlord — so this page puts nothing on the tenant's side.
    • Rent rises: A landlord may raise a home's rent only after 2 years from the start or the last rise, by 5% at a time and at most five times during the lease — unless you agreed otherwise in writing. For a sitting tenant that is about 2.47% a year; a new tenancy starts at whatever rent is agreed.
    • Money up front: a security deposit of at most 1 month's rent, returned at the end less what you owe, and advance rent of at most 3 months for a home. Opening the electricity and water account as a tenant also takes a refundable deposit — from BHD 100 for a single-phase electricity meter or BHD 100 for a 15 mm water connection, more for larger ones; only the higher of the two is charged, and the landlord's personal guarantee is accepted instead.
    • Disputes: Rent disputes go to the High Civil Court; its judgement is final for claims up to BHD 1,000.
    • VAT: Renting a home is VAT-exempt; hotels and serviced accommodation carry 10% (a lease of a year or more never counts as serviced accommodation).
    • Municipal fee: Municipal fee on a rented home: 10% of the rental value, and never less than the fee an owner-occupier pays for the same home (Ministerial Decision 22/2005, Table B); it is billed with the electricity and water account. Bahraini tenant families who qualify pay the owner-occupier rate instead, BHD 2–14 a month; an owner living in the home pays that owner rate too.
    • Registering the sale with the Survey and Land Registration Bureau: 2% of the property value, or 1.7% if filed within 60 days of notarization (an extension of the reduced-fee period can be requested online within 120 days; the Bureau decides). The law does not say who pays — choose it in the calculator. Fixed fees: BHD 1 form, BHD 20 notary, BHD 5 to register a mortgage and BHD 5 to lift it when you sell. Buyers who borrow from the state housing bank to buy a housing unit or plot are exempt from the registration fee, within the loan amount. (Not counted here.)
    • Broker: Real estate broker's commission: 2% of the sale price, paid half by the buyer and half by the seller unless agreed otherwise in writing (RERA marks its English translation as a draft). Agents' services carry 10% VAT.
    • VAT: Buying, selling or renting property in Bahrain is exempt from VAT — homes, commercial property and land alike.

    The rent law in full: rent law: increases and deposits.

    Who may buy property in Bahrain

    • Bahraini citizens may buy anywhere; citizens of the other GCC states are treated like Bahrainis (Decree-Law 40/1999).
    • Other nationalities may own buildings and land only in the residential-building zones (A), (B) and (C) and in the listed investment and tourism areas and projects, as shown on the official maps (Prime Minister's Decisions 43/2003, 38/2023 and 27/2025). Holders of a platinum residency may also own elsewhere, outside excluded areas. The Survey and Land Registration Bureau's page "Other Nationalities Ownership" shows the areas — check the plot before you pay a deposit.
    • Residency: owning property worth at least BHD 130,000 can qualify you for a Golden Residency (BHD 5 application fee, BHD 300 every 10 years, plus BHD 300 for each dependant's permit; threshold set by Ministry of Interior Decision 150/2025) — see who can buy property in Bahrain.

    What carries VAT in Bahrain and what is exempt: VAT in Bahrain — with a calculator to add or remove 10% VAT.

    Questions people ask

    What is a good rental yield in Bahrain?

    In Bahrain, no official body publishes rental yields or rent levels. Gross yield is only rent ÷ price; the net yield after empty months, the lease registration, service charges, maintenance, insurance and a manager is the number to compare.

    Who pays the lease registration fee in Bahrain?

    In Bahrain the landlord pays it. Under the Real Estate Lease Law (Law 27/2014) a lease must be registered within one month of signing; the fee is a fixed BHD 5 per registration of a home lease (BHD 10 for other uses — Ministerial Order 9/2015). The calculator assumes BHD 5 once a year.

    Is there VAT on rent in Bahrain?

    No — in Bahrain, renting a home is VAT-exempt; hotels and serviced accommodation carry 10% (a lease of a year or more never counts as serviced accommodation).

    How much deposit can I ask a tenant for?

    In Bahrain, at most 1 month's rent as a security deposit, returned at the end less what the tenant owes, and at most 3 months' rent in advance for a home.

    What does selling cost?

    In Bahrain, your share of the registration fee (2%, or 1.7% if filed within 60 days of notarization; who pays is agreed in the contract), your half of the broker's 2% plus 10% VAT, and BHD 5 to lift a mortgage.