What is a CAP rate?

  • by

In today’s capitalist world, we will find it very difficult to survive without knowing the linguistics and know-how necessary. In this article, we will shed light on everything you need to know about the definition of CAP rate as well its formulae that you can use in real-world scenarios.

An insight into what is CAP rate?

CAP rate or cap rate is short for capitalization rate. It is a term that is used by the real estate community to measure the different estate investments. In short, capitalization refers to the capitalization (net operating income) generated by property during a specific period. 

Here are a few other facts that you should know about:

What to & what not to include when measuring CAP rate?

When measuring the CAP rate, here are a few things that you may need to include:

  • Gross rental income – The rental income you get from your property while renting out is added as a plus in the cap rate. It is the only source of income that we will be adding when measuring the CAP rate. 
  • Credit loss reserve –If you are like most people, you will most likely run using a credit card. If you suffer from a loss in the credit score, you will also have a lower CAP rate because of lower interest rates when calculating profits. 
  • Property taxes – Depending on where you live, this can either be a considerably massive amount or a small amount. The bigger the property, the more the tax that you will have to pay. Most countries only regulate an annual property tax, though. 
  • Property insurance and maintenance – Like anything, your property needs to be insured against natural hazards, especially if you are renting your property out. Insurance isn’t cheap and will hurt your balance in both the short and long runs. 
  • Other expenses – Some other expenses, usually one-time, such as licenses and investing in marketing, are all things that will prove to be negative in your CAP rate. 

Once you combine all these, you will measure your Net Operating Income (NOI), which will then be used to measure the cap rate.

Formula to use when measuring the capitalization rate:

Here is a simple formula that you will want to use when measuring the capitalization rate: 

You can easily find the current market value through the use of a few analytic tools. It is generally a good idea to have a positive capitalization rate if you want to profit. 

Similarly, another formula used for capitalization rate include:

This second formula refers to the cap rate when buying the property at its cash value and then selling it without renting it. 

Final Thoughts:

Many professionals also tend to add to the equation when calculating the capitalization rate. 

We hope this article has helped you understand everything you need to know about CAP rate and how to measure it. You can use the above-given formula if you need to be precise with your calculations.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *