Gross yield is the headline; net is the truth. We walk through the real running costs of a short-let apartment on Long Beach — and what lands in your account.
Ask what a seafront apartment yields and you will hear a confident number, usually somewhere between eight and twelve per cent. That figure is almost always gross — the rent before anything is taken out of it. The number that matters is what remains after the coast has taken its cut.
Where the gross goes
Start with management. A short-let apartment does not run itself: someone has to handle bookings, cleaning, key exchange and the midnight message about a broken air-conditioner. A managing agent typically takes a fifth of the rent, and earns it. Then come the site fees — pools, gardens, security and lifts are not free — plus insurance, wear-and-tear on the furniture, and the weeks the apartment simply sits empty between guests.
A realistic net sits a few points below the gross. Anyone quoting you the two as the same number is selling, not advising.
The number that lands
Once those costs come out, a headline yield in the low teens tends to settle into a net return a few points lower — still a genuinely strong figure by European standards, but a very different one to plan a life around. Build your budget on the net, treat the gross as marketing, and you will never be disappointed by a quarter's statement.
None of this is a reason not to buy — the returns on this coast remain among the best in the Mediterranean. It is simply a reason to buy with your eyes open, which is the only way we would ever advise you to.
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