Calculate, rather than promise

The full cost of buying

The asking price is not what you pay. Between the two sit fees, registration, a possible commission and whatever the flat needs before anyone moves in. The True Cost calculator sets the purchase out line by line, each line with the rule set it was computed from and its source.

Lines that depend on your situation are marked editable and optional ones can be switched on and off. The total is computed on the server from versioned rules — the page adds nothing of its own, so the same inputs give you and us the same figure.

While a rule set is unapproved the calculator says plainly that it is computing from a draft. A draft passed off as a rule in force would cost you money, so we prefer the caveat.

Why we show no yield

Naming a yield needs corroborated data on rents and occupancy — not 'from market experience', but the kind you can produce on request. We do not have that in checkable form, so there will be no percentages and no forecasts on the site.

When such data exists it will be shown as an estimate: marked as one, with its assumptions, its date and the number of observations behind it. An estimate presented as a fact is exactly the failure this product exists to avoid.

In practice that means we sometimes lose to sites that print a cheerful percentage next to the price. We are content with that: a percentage with nothing behind it is not information, it is advertising.

What to allow for

• The compound's service charge: it stays with the flat for good, usually rises, and does not care whether you live there.
• Upkeep in a sea climate: salt and humidity wear out appliances, plumbing and finishes even when nobody has been in for six months.
• Seasonality: short-let occupancy is uneven across the year, and the annual average looks nothing like high season.
• Compound rules: some compounds restrict short letting, and that is something to establish before buying, not after.
• Management: if you are not in Egypt, someone has to meet guests, clean and repair — that is a cost line, not a detail.
• Currency: the price, the payment and the future rent may be in different currencies, and the rate between them is a risk of its own.

For holidays or for income

These are two different properties, and the same budget buys a different flat for each. For yourself you choose the view, the quiet and what the compound will be like in ten years. To let, you choose the distance to the sea, the number of beds and how easily the flat can be serviced while you are away.

You can combine them, as long as the cost of the compromise is stated honestly: a flat you live in for two months a year works less well for the other ten than one that is always let.

What people usually ask

So you never name a yield at all?

We do not publish one. In conversation we will tell you what we see for a particular compound and how we know it — but that will be a conversation with caveats, not a figure on a card that reads as a promise.

How accurate is the True Cost calculator?

As accurate as the rule set it computes from, and it always shows which set and which version that is. Lines that depend on your situation you edit yourself. The total is a calculation, not an offer.

Can it work out a developer's payment plan?

Yes, where the developer has published the terms: deposit, term, payment frequency. Terms a developer does not publish we do not invent.

Is this investment advice?

No. The calculations on this site are arithmetic on your inputs, not a recommendation to buy. We are not licensed to give investment advice and do not present ourselves as advisers.