NOI & Cap Rate

Calculate the rent as if every unit is always rented at the fair market rent for one year. This is your potential gross rent or potential gross income. 

EXAMPLE: 24 apartment units X $425/month = $10,200/month. $10,200/month X 12 = $122,400/year.

Subtract for vacancy and rent loss (un-rented units and unpaid bills). Let's assume that for one reason or another, only 90 percent of the units are rented at any point in time. That is a 10 percent vacancy rate or a 90 percent occupancy rate.

EXAMPLE: $122,400/yr X 90 percent = $110,160

Add miscellaneous income. This can come from parking garage charges, coin operated washing machines or vending machines, for example. Let's assume you receive $300/month from these sources, or $3,600/year. 

EXAMPLE: $110,160/yr + $3,600/yr = $113,760/yr. This is your Effective Gross Income (EGI).

Subtract expenses from Effective Gross Income. There are three categories of expenses:

FIXED -- Property Tax, Insurance, etc. You pay these whether the unit is rented or not.

OPERATING -- In this category are: Utilities, property manager, advertising, lawn care, pest control, minor repairs, and so forth.

RESERVE -- This is money put aside for anticipated future major repairs or replacements, such as a roofs, boilers or refrigerators. This category is often omitted in pro forma documents, but should be present as a pro rated expense.

Calculate Net Operating Income by subtracting expenses from Effective Gross Income.

EXAMPLE: $113,760 (EGI) - $11,400 (FIXED) - $16,000 (OPERATING) - $3,300 (RESERVE) = $83,060

Your NOI = $83,060

NOTE: Do not use the mortgage payment or the interest in computing NOI, as these are expenses of the buyer and not the property or the business.

Cash Flow = NOI - Mortgage Payment

 Now, calculate Cap Rate. See below.

To calculate the Capitalization Rate, you will need the sale or purchase price of the property and the NOI, which you just calculated. You can view Cap Rate as the annual rate of profit. If you bought a Certificate of Deposit with a 5 percent annual yield, the Cap Rate would be 5 percent. Similarly, owning an income producing property has a predictable annual yield or Cap Rate.

Divide NOI by the sale price. This is the Cap Rate.

EXAMPLE: $83,060 / $940,000 = 8.8 percent Cap Rate. 

Depending on the economy and the local market, you need to decide if a yield of 8.8 percent makes good financial sense. In other words, would owning a Certificate of Deposit yield you a similar income, or would you make more money owning real estate? In this example, the real estate is the better value. Also, keep in mind that most real estate will appreciate in value each year, typically 3 to 4 percent, again depending on the area and the market.

Here is another way of looking at the problem: NOI / Cap Rate = VALUE

If you are looking for an 9.0 percent yield, then you would calculate the maximum you would pay for the building with the following formula:

EXAMPLE: $83,060 / 9 percent = $922,888 or rounded off, $923,000. Your purchase offer would be no more than $923,000. As Cap Rate goes up, Value goes down.