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Gera Yield Index & UK rental yield — methodology

The Gera Yield Index ranks UK local authorities by rental yield by joining two real, independently-published government datasets. This page sets out the join, the formulas, the one cost assumption, and a worked example, so any figure we publish can be reproduced.

The two source datasets

The join (the novelty)

The two datasets are joined on the ONS GSS area code (e.g. E08000003 for Manchester) — a single, canonical key carried by both, so the match is unambiguous and not subject to name drift. An area is included in the composite only when both its ONS rent and its HM Land Registry price exist; areas missing either input are dropped (no null is silently treated as zero). The same rule applies per property type (detached / semi-detached / terraced / flat): the ONS rent for the type is joined to the Land Registry price for the same type.

Coverage: 334 local authorities have an ONS rent and 360 have a Land Registry price. 316 have both and so form the all-property composite ranking.

Formulas

gross_yield_%   = (monthly_rent × 12) / avg_price × 100
net_yield_%     = gross_yield_% × (1 − 0.28)      (indicative)
price_to_rent   = avg_price / (monthly_rent × 12)        (years)
Gera Yield Index = round( gross_yield_% / uk_gross_yield_% × 100 )

The UK-wide gross yield (the index denominator) is itself a real, traceable figure — the ONS United Kingdom average rent over the HM Land Registry United Kingdom average price — currently 6.14%. A Gera Yield Index of 100 means the area matches the UK-wide yield exactly; 130 means 30% above; 70 means 30% below.

Gross vs net — the one assumption

Gross yield and the price-to-rent ratio are pure arithmetic on the two real source figures — no assumptions. Net yield is indicative. It deducts a single, disclosed landlord running-cost ratio of 28% of gross rent — the only non-source number we use. It is a conservative composite of:

Net yield is labelled "indicative" everywhere it appears. Actual costs vary by property, financing, and management arrangement; the calculator lets you reason about your own numbers but uses the same disclosed ratio for the net estimate.

Worked example

Newcastle upon Tyne (May 2026 rent · April 2026 price) has an ONS average rent of £1,204/month and an HM Land Registry average price of £209,071. So:

Cadence & provenance

The composite is recomputed when either source releases a new edition (ONS rent monthly; HM Land Registry monthly). Every number traces to the two real datasets; the only thing GeraRent adds is the join and the disclosed cost assumption. No figure is estimated, smoothed or hand-entered.

Back to UK rental yield by area.