Most yield calculators show you one number -- gross yield -- and stop there. PropertyAlert's yield score goes further, and it's worth understanding exactly how, especially if you're comparing two deals that look identical on the surface.
The Yield Score Bands
Every property on PropertyAlert gets a yield score from 1 to 10, mapped directly from gross rental yield:
- Poor (under 4%) -- score 1-2
- Average (4-5.9%) -- score 3-4
- Good (6-7.9%) -- score 5-7
- Strong (8-9.9%) -- score 8-9
- Exceptional (10%+) -- score 10
This is deliberately simple at the scoring layer -- it has to be, since it's applied consistently across tens of thousands of live listings every day. But a high yield score is a starting signal, not a verdict on profitability, and treating it as one is the single most common mistake we see from new investors.
Why Yield Score Is Only 20% of Deal Score
Yield score never stands alone on PropertyAlert. It's one input into Deal Score, a weighted composite: investment score (0.5) -- how far below market value the price sits -- motivation score (0.3) -- how urgently the seller wants to sell -- and yield score (0.2). A property with an exceptional 10% yield score but a poor investment score (fully priced, no discount to the postcode benchmark) will usually rank below a property with a good 6-7% yield score and a strong below-market-value discount. Chasing yield score in isolation, without checking Deal Score, is how investors end up overpaying for a property in a high-yield postcode.
What Yield Score Doesn't Capture -- And Why That's Intentional
Gross yield is rent divided by purchase price. It says nothing about what actually lands in your account. Real BTL costs strip meaningfully into that gap: letting agent fees (commonly 10-15% plus VAT if you're not self-managing), void periods, maintenance and repairs, buildings insurance, and -- since Section 24's full phase-in -- the fact that mortgage interest is no longer deductible from rental income for higher-rate taxpayers, replaced with a flat 20% tax credit instead. See our Section 24 guide for exactly how much that costs on a leveraged purchase.
PropertyAlert's yield score is deliberately gross, not net, because net yield depends on financing structure, ownership vehicle (personal name vs SPV), and management choices that vary investor to investor -- baking one investor's assumptions into every listing's score would make it wrong for everyone else. Gross yield score is the consistent, comparable starting point; the real due diligence happens after it flags a deal worth a closer look.
Putting It Into Practice
If you want to run the maths yourself before shortlisting, our yield calculator walks through the full gross-to-net conversion, and gross yield vs net yield breaks down a worked example with real costs applied. Or browse live deals sorted by Deal Score to see yield score working alongside investment score and motivation score on real listings, updated daily.