Buy-to-Let vs Savings Calculator

Buy-to-Let vs savings calculator compares property investment returns to high-yield savings. On 100k of capital, BTL at a 5% rental yield plus 3% appreciation works out to an 8% total return, against high-yield savings at 4.5%. Over 10 years that is about 215,893 from BTL versus 155,297 from savings, with BTL ahead by roughly 60,596. But BTL takes work and carries risk; savings are passive and far more liquid.

Example: 100k cash. Option A: high-yield savings at 4.5%, about 155k after 10 years, fully liquid and, in many countries, protected up to a deposit-guarantee limit. Option B: BTL property cash purchase at 5% yield plus 3% appreciation (8% total), about 216k after 10 years, illiquid, with tenant management and taxes to handle. BTL comes out ahead by roughly 61k, about 6k a year, in exchange for that effort, risk, and tying up 100k.

BTL realities not in the pure math: tax (rental income is usually taxable, and mortgage interest relief for individual landlords is restricted or capped in some jurisdictions), letting costs (agency fees, maintenance, void periods, insurance), tenant risks (rent arrears, damage, evictions), and regulation (landlord licensing, energy-efficiency rules, and tenancy-deposit requirements that vary by country). Savings are simpler: set the rate and interest accrues. The choice depends on appetite for hands-on management and risk tolerance.

A worked example

With the defaults: investment capital of 100,000, savings interest rate of 4.5%, BTL rental yield of 5%, BTL appreciation of 3%. The tool returns 60,595.56. You can adjust any input and the result updates as you type — no submit button, no reload. That's the real power here: seeing how sensitive the output is to one or two assumptions.

What moves the number most

The result responds to Investment Capital, Savings Interest Rate %, BTL Rental Yield %, BTL Appreciation %, and Investment Period. Two inputs usually tip the answer one way or the other. Flipping each value past a round threshold shows which input moves the result most.

The formula behind this

Compound capital at each rate over years; difference = winner's advantage. Everything the calculator does is shown in the formula box below, so you can check the math against your own spreadsheet if you want.

Why run this

Running the numbers makes the trade-offs concrete. Small changes in the inputs can move the result more than intuition suggests, which is hard to judge without working it out.

What this doesn't capture

This is a simplified model that holds its assumptions constant. Real outcomes vary with market conditions, costs, taxes, and timing, so the figure is best read as one scenario rather than a forecast.