Free owner tool · British Columbia
Rental Property Purchase Analyzer for Metro Vancouver
A $1.2M Vancouver condo costs about $22,000 in Property Transfer Tax plus roughly $2,100 in legal and inspection before the first tenant. This tool adds those to your cash invested, estimates rent from our BC table and shows NOI, cap rate and cash-on-cash with financing optional.
Vancouver — West Side · 2-bed condo / apartment · purchase price $1,200,000
Estimated unfurnished rent from our BC market table. Underwrite the conservative end; a buyer's rent assumption is the number most often wrong.
David Siccia Properties market table, updated Sep 2026. Asking rents, not achieved rents.
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Rent range and every cost line
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Your numbers
Every assumption is editable
Rent, price and what it costs to close
Closing costs are editable in the Costs and returns tab
Year-one cash flow
After all costs; mortgage at 4.60%
$28,134
No mortgage
-$36,268
20% down
-$24,193
35% down
Cash-on-cash, three ways to buy
Rent $3,900/mo, price $1,200,000, closing $24,100. Highlighted: best year-one return on cash.
No mortgage
All cash$28,134/yr NOI on $1,224,100 invested · break-even $1,245/mo
20% down
4.60%, 25 yr-$36,268/yr after $5,367/mo mortgage on $264,100 invested · break-even $7,322/mo
35% down
4.60%, 25 yr-$24,193/yr after $4,361/mo mortgage on $444,100 invested · break-even $6,183/mo
How we got the rent range
- Table: 2-bed condo, unfurnished$3,500 – $4,300
- Range (rounded to $50)$3,500 – $4,300
- Rent used below$3,900/mo
David Siccia Properties market table, updated Sep 2026, based on CMHC Rental Market Survey 2025, liv.rent/Zumper listing reports and our own placements. Asking rents, not achieved rents. 2-bed condo / apartment, Vancouver — West Side (Kits, Point Grey, Kerrisdale, Cambie).
Line-by-line: what you net before any mortgage
Nothing is hidden. Each line shows the figure in use and where the default comes from; change any of them in the "Your numbers" panel above.
Gross rent (unfurnished)
Vacancy allowance, 4.0%
4% ≈ two weeks a year between tenants plus a small bad-debt allowance. CMHC's 2025 Vancouver purpose-built vacancy rate was under 2%; we budget more because turnover is when you lose rent.
Effective gross income
Property management, 8.0% of collected rent
Market range for Metro Vancouver residential management is 8–12% of collected rent (unfurnished at the low end, furnished executive at the high end). David quotes per property.
Property tax, City of Vancouver at 0.28%
0.28% × $1,200,000. Approximate 2025 rate; check the current mill rate on your notice.
Landlord insurance
Landlord policy: condo/suite contents + liability ≈ $100–150/mo; townhouse ≈ $150–220/mo; detached house ≈ $200–300/mo (2025 broker quotes). Strata buildings insure the structure through strata fees.
Strata fees
From your strata fee notice. Enter $0 for a detached house.
Maintenance reserve
Reserve for repairs and turnover: 1% of value a year for houses, 0.5% for condos (strata fees already cover the building envelope), capped so a $3M assessment does not imply $2,500/mo of repairs.
Total operating expenses
Net operating income (NOI), before financing and income tax
Cap rate on $1,200,000
2.34%
Metro Vancouver residential typically 2.5–4%.
Gross yield
3.90%
Annual rent ÷ value.
Break-even rent, no mortgage
$1,245/mo
Below this the property costs you money to hold even with no debt.
If financed (switched off)
Financing is off, so the figures above are the whole picture. Switch on "Include a mortgage" in the inputs to add debt service, cash-on-cash return and the financed break-even rent.
Furnished vs unfurnished, same unit
Same strata, insurance, tax and maintenance; only rent, management fee, utilities and furnishing change. Rent is taken at the same slider position in each range.
| Line | Unfurnished | Furnished executive |
|---|---|---|
| Rent used | $3,900/mo | $5,330/mo |
| Management fee | 8% | 12% |
| Utilities + furnishing | $0/mo | $667/mo |
| Annual NOI | $28,134 | $32,833 |
| Cap rate | 2.34% | 2.74% |
| Typical lease | 12 months, then month-to-month | 3–12 months; corporate, insurance, relocation tenants |
| Vacancy | Low: 4% allowance | Higher: more turnovers; plan 6–10% plus cleaning between tenants |
| Owner effort | Low | Higher: inventory, restocking, faster response; usually managed |
Long-term vs short-term (Airbnb)
What this analyzer does differently from the rental income calculator
Our Vancouver Rental Income Calculator is for a property you already own: what it rents for and what you net. This page is for a property you are about to buy. It adds the one-time costs of getting in: BC Property Transfer Tax (about $22,000 on a $1.2M purchase), legal and conveyancing (typically $1,200–2,000), inspection and appraisal ($500–900) and anything else you will spend before the first tenant. Those costs are added to your cash invested, so the cash-on-cash return is honest. Everything else, from the rent table to the vacancy, management, tax, insurance, strata and maintenance lines, is identical and fully editable.
| Purchase price | Property Transfer Tax | 20% down | Cash to close (20% + PTT + $2,100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $800,000 | $14,000 | $160,000 | $176,100 |
| $1,200,000 | $22,000 | $240,000 | $264,100 |
| $1,800,000 | $34,000 | $360,000 | $396,100 |
| $2,500,000 | $53,000 | $500,000 | $555,100 |
| $3,500,000 | $93,000 | $700,000 | $795,100 |
BC Property Transfer Tax bands (Ministry of Finance): 1% to $200k, 2% to $2M, 3% to $3M, 5% above $3M residential. Foreign buyers add 20%.
What it costs to buy and hold a rental in BC
On a $1,200,000 Vancouver condo with 20% down you need about $240,000 of down payment plus roughly $24,000 of closing costs, and a landlord budget of 8–12% of rent for management (David quotes a flat structure per property), 0.28% of assessed value for City of Vancouver property tax, your strata fee, $120/mo insurance and a repair reserve. The analyzer shows every one of these as a line you can change.
How long it takes
Offer to subject removal
7–14 days: financing, inspection, strata documents
Completion
30–60 days from acceptance; PTT and legal fees paid here
Possession to listed
3–10 days: cleaning, photos, pricing from live comparables
Listed to leased
2–4 weeks unfurnished, 1–6 weeks furnished executive
Budget a month of vacancy in your first year on top of the 4% allowance: the first tenant always takes longer than the renewals.
Vancouver specifics for buyers
Investor units cannot be short-term rented under the BC Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act and the City of Vancouver bylaw, so underwrite a long-term or 30-day-plus furnished rent, never an Airbnb number. Strata corporations can no longer ban rentals outright (BC Strata Property Act amendments, November 2022), though 55+ age restrictions remain. A home left empty is hit by the 3% Vancouver Empty Homes Tax and the provincial Speculation and Vacancy Tax; renting it out is the exemption. Foreign buyers face the 20% additional Property Transfer Tax and the federal prohibition on non-Canadians purchasing residential property, extended to 2027. This is general information; confirm with a lawyer and accountant.
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Owners of commercial property should use the commercial lease rate estimator, vacancy cost calculator and net effective rent calculator, or read sell or tenant?. See our portfolio or contact us.
General information, not investment, tax or legal advice. David Siccia Properties handles leasing and management; property sales are executed by Lawrence Siccia, REALTOR®, Engel & Völkers Vancouver.
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Buying to rent? Get the rent number before you write the offer.
Send the listing and we will tell you what it will really rent for, furnished and unfurnished, and what management would cost.
David Siccia Properties handles leasing and management. Property sales are executed by Lawrence Siccia, REALTOR®, Engel & Völkers Vancouver.