Rental income and yield: how much does a property on Costa del Sol really earn
In 30 seconds
A well-run short-term rental on the Costa del Sol earns roughly 5 to 9 % gross, and a long-term tenancy earns roughly 4 to 6 % gross. Both come down to roughly 3 to 4,5 % net once management, tax and running costs are taken off.
What is a realistic gross yield on the Costa del Sol?
Gross yield is the simplest, most honest number in this whole topic. It is the annual rent a property produces, divided by what it cost to buy, shown as a percentage. It says nothing about what you keep. This is also where almost every marketing figure quietly stops.Published market reports agree on roughly 5 to 9 % gross for a managed short-term rental in a tourist-heavy area (Bromley Estates Marbella, Airbtics Marbella data and Relo Real Estate, all 2026), and roughly 4 to 6 % gross for a long-term residential tenancy (Alta Moderna Spanish real estate statistics, 2026).
Gross to net, step by step
The percentages above the last row show the shape of the deduction, not one verified worked example. The community fee, the tax band and the running costs are each specific to one property. The net row uses the same range as everywhere else on this page, not a new calculation.
| Rent receivedthe annual income before any cost | 100 % |
|---|---|
| Management commission20 % of each booking, 0 € in a month with none | -20 % |
| Community fee900 to 6 000 € a year, varies a lot by development | Varies |
| IRNR on the rental income19 % on net for EU/EEA, 24 % on gross for others | Varies |
| Insurance, maintenance and voidsseasonal and specific to each property, the gap that headline figures leave out | Varies |
| What is left, as a yield on the purchase pricethe net range market reports agree on | 3 to 4,5 % |
These are ranges the market reports agree on, as of August 2026. They are not figures Arevont has measured or checked against its own catalogue, and no single report shares its full underlying data. Treat a number outside either range, in either direction, as a claim to test, not a fact to accept.
What reduces that number to reach net?
The comunidad de propietarios is the owners’ community that runs the shared parts of a development and sets the monthly fee, and it is close to a Czech SVJ without being the same thing. This is the single most variable line in this whole calculation. It is worth reading properly, not treating as a rounding error.Six costs typically stand between the gross figure above and what lands in your account. Every one of them is real, and already published elsewhere on this site, not estimated just for this page.
| Cost | Typical size | Where it is fixed |
|---|---|---|
| Management commission, if rented through a manager | 20 % of each booking | Set by the manager’s contract. 0 € in a month with no bookings. |
| Community fee | 900 to 6.000 € a year | Voted by the community. Varies a lot by development. |
| IBI, the annual property tax | 400 to 1.000 € a year for an apartment | Set by the town hall, not negotiable. |
| IRNR on the rental income | 19 % net (EU/EEA) or 24 % gross (other) | Set by Agencia Tributaria. Depends on your own tax residence, not the property. |
| Insurance for a property with paying guests | Written specifically for that use, priced individually | A policy for an owner occupier does not cover this and can decline a claim. |
| Voids, maintenance and the platform’s own commission | Varies by season, by property and by channel | The gap almost every headline figure quietly omits. |
Why will a good manager refuse to quote you a number?
Arevont’s own rental-management page states this plainly, and it is worth using as a filter for everybody else’s numbers too, not just ours: no honest manager guarantees occupancy or income before they have seen the property, its reviews, and how it is priced for the season ahead. A figure quoted before that point is just a guess with a currency symbol attached.What a good manager will tell you, and what is genuinely useful, is the method above applied to your actual property, once they have stood inside it: the real gross range for that address and that season, and the real cost list for that development, instead of the published ranges. This is a suitability check. Arevont runs it for free before you spend a single euro, whether the answer is encouraging or not.
If nobody will give me a number, how do I compare two properties before I buy?Compare the cost list, which you can know in advance, instead of the income, which you cannot. Two apartments at the same price, one with a 900 € community fee and one with a 4.200 € community fee, are not the same investment, even before a single booking exists. That gap is just as real as any yield percentage either one might later produce.
Does short-term or long-term renting yield more?
On the headline number, short-term usually earns more. What closes most of that gap is the cost and the commitment behind each figure. This is why the two are not simply "the same money, two speeds".
| Short-term rental | Long-term rental | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical gross yield quoted | 5 to 9 % | 4 to 6 % |
| What it costs to get there | Furniture, a licence, ongoing management. | A contract review, far less setup. |
| How stable the income is | Seasonal, pricing and reviews. | Stable, protected by a 5 to 7-year term. |
| Can the community veto it | Yes, three-fifths vote since 2025. | No similar veto exists. |
| Use of the property yourself | Possible at some times of the year. | Not while the minimum term lasts. |
What to ask anybody who quotes you a yield number
Five questions. A number that survives all five is worth taking seriously.| Ask | Why it matters | What a bad answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Is this gross or net? | The two figures can differ by half, and a marketing number is almost always the larger of the two. | A single percentage with no word attached to it. |
| Has this specific property been seen, or is it a postcode average? | A layout, a view and a floor make a real difference to what a unit really books at. | A number quoted before a viewing or a listing review. |
| What management fee, tax rate and community fee did you use? | Change any one of the three and the net figure moves substantially. | No breakdown offered, or a management fee quietly left out. |
| What occupancy assumption is built into this? | A yield built on peak-season pricing every week of the year is not a yield, it is a best case. | "Fully booked" or a number with no occupancy stated at all. |
| Is this a promise or an estimate? | No manager controls the market, only the pricing and the listing quality. | A guaranteed minimum income offered by anybody who does not also carry the risk themselves. |
What these ranges are not
What you have here is a method and a set of sourced, dated market ranges, current as of 17 August 2026. It is not a valuation, a forecast, or a promise about any specific property. Do not use any figure here in a financing decision as if it were guaranteed.We have not built our own yield data across our full catalogue, and we say so rather than publish an average dressed up as a measurement. When that changes, these ranges will come from our own figures instead of market reports, and we will say so plainly.The net range assumes a professionally managed, legally compliant property. An unlicensed short-term rental, a property rented against the community’s wishes, or one with an undocumented extension does not belong in this calculation at all. The risk on those is not a lower yield. It is losing the ability to rent the property at all.
The most common questions about rental yield
- Why won’t Arevont just tell me what a property will earn?
- Because we control only two of the four things that decide it: the pricing and the listing quality. We do not control the other two: the market and the property’s reviews. A number given before we have seen a property and run at least one season is not a forecast. It is a guess. We would rather lose a booking to an honest "maybe" than earn one with a number we cannot stand behind.
- Do these ranges include the price appreciation of the property itself?
- No. Everything above is rental yield: the income the property produces, divided by what it cost. It says nothing about whether the property is likely to be worth more or less when you eventually sell. These are two separate questions, and mixing them up is one of the more common ways an investment case gets oversold.
- Does a higher purchase price always mean a lower yield?
- Usually, but not always, because yield is a ratio, and both sides of it can change. A more expensive property in a stronger rental location can earn enough more than a cheaper one to keep a similar or better yield. This is exactly why comparing yields across very different properties needs the same cost list applied to each one, not just a headline number.
