Invest
Understand the market before you enter it
This page is here to teach, not to sell. If you finish it and decide not to invest, it has done its job.
Where to start
Which kind of investment?
- Furnished rental
Higher rent, more wear, more involvement.
- Long-term rental
One tenant, a long lease, least of your time.
- Ready property
Earning from the day you take the keys.
- Off-plan
Paid in instalments, delivered later.
Stayza does not publish projected returns, guaranteed yields or forecasts of what property will be worth later. Nobody can know those things. Anyone who promises you a guaranteed return is selling you something.
What can be assessed is demand — whether people want to live in a specific place, why, and how reliably. That is the work worth doing, and it is the work we will do with you.
Three ways to let a property, three different lives
The right choice depends far more on how involved you can realistically be than on which produces the biggest number on paper.
Long-term unfurnished
One tenant, a long lease, minimal involvement. The most predictable option and the least demanding of your time.
Watch: Lowest monthly income of the three.
Long-term furnished
Higher monthly rent in exchange for the cost of furnishing and more wear on the property.
Watch: Furniture is a real, recurring cost — budget for replacing it.
Short-term letting
The highest potential income, but only with active management, fast responses and consistent standards.
Watch: Seasonal, and unforgiving of poor management. Empty months hurt.
What nobody can tell you
Nobody knows what a property will be worth in five years. Not us, not a developer, not an agent with a chart. Anyone who gives you a guaranteed return is telling you something they cannot know.
What can be assessed is demand: whether people want to live in a specific place, why, and how reliably. That is a question with real evidence behind it, and it is the one worth working on.
Rental strategies, and what each demands
The right strategy depends far more on how involved you can be than on which produces the biggest number on paper. Short-term letting managed badly earns less than a long lease managed well.
- Long-term unfurnished: lowest effort, most stable, lowest monthly income
- Long-term furnished: higher monthly income, furniture cost, more wear
- Short-term and holiday letting: highest potential income, highest effort, most seasonal, needs active management
Judging an area for rental demand
- Who would rent this, specifically? Name the tenant.
- What brings them here — a job, a university, a hospital, a school?
- Is that demand year-round or seasonal?
- How much competing supply is being built nearby right now?
- How easy is it to reach the places that tenant needs to go?
The risks worth taking seriously
- Delivery risk on off-plan purchases
- Currency movement if your income and costs are in different currencies
- Oversupply in fast-building districts
- Void periods when the property sits empty
- Management cost and effort, especially from abroad
- Maintenance and furniture replacement over time
Do the boring arithmetic
Before you buy anything as an investment, write down the total purchase cost including every fee, the realistic annual rent, and every cost of holding it — service charges, maintenance, management, void months, tax.
If the numbers only work when everything goes right, they do not work.
Do the arithmetic yourself
Our calculator uses only the numbers you enter. It contains no assumptions of ours, no market averages and no forecasts — just the maths, shown openly.
Stayza is not a licensed financial or investment adviser. See our terms.
Want a straight answer about your plan?
Tell us what you're considering. We'll tell you what we'd check if it were our money.