Interest rates are low by South African standards, and investors with spare capital or borrowing power may be tempted to dive straight into the buy-to-let property market. Because you can’t go wrong with property, right?

It is to test sweeping statements like the above, that we’ve designed the Return on Property calculator to work out the expected long-term returns on your investment under different assumptions. This tool allows you to choose the bond rate, increase in rental income, increase in property maintenance costs and capital growth on your property that you think is realistic.

If you need help to complete the second input field of the calculator, relating to transfer and bond registration fees, you can download the The Real Price of a Property tool for a good estimate of up-front costs.

Just remember that the Return on Property calculator does not account for your unique tax situation.

Happy investing.