Glossary

Property investment terms, defined

Every term NordInvest uses in its reports — explained in plain English, with the underlying formula and a citation when one exists. Skim, or jump to a specific term via the index below.

Yield (Gross) Yield (Net) ROI Cash-on-Cash BRRRR ARV LTV Cap Rate Cash Flow Appreciation Wealth Engine Stress Test Down Payment Value-Add

Rental Yield (Gross)

yield-gross

Annual rental income divided by property price, expressed as a percentage. The core profitability metric used by property professionals — and almost always the first number you see on a listing's "yield" line.

Gross Yield = (Annual Rent ÷ Property Price) × 100

See: How to calculate rental yield on a Nordic property.

Net Rental Yield

yield-net

Gross yield minus all operating costs — taxes, insurance, association fees (ejerforening, sameie, samfällighet), maintenance, vacancy allowance. The number that actually predicts what you keep.

Net Yield = ((Annual Rent − Annual Costs) ÷ Property Price) × 100

Worked example with Copenhagen numbers in our rental yield guide.

ROI (Return on Investment)

roi

Annual profit divided by cash actually invested, expressed as a percentage. Measures how efficiently a property converts the capital you deployed into income — not just headline yield.

ROI = (Annual Cash Flow ÷ Cash Invested) × 100

Cash invested typically equals the down payment plus closing costs and any upfront renovation.

Cash-on-Cash Return

coc

Annual cash flow divided by the cash that's actually still in the deal, post-financing. Crucial for evaluating leveraged strategies — particularly BRRRR, where the refinance recovers most of your original capital.

Cash-on-Cash = (Annual Cash Flow ÷ Effective Cash-in-Deal) × 100

When effective cash-in-deal is zero (you pulled all capital out via refinance), the return is conventionally noted as ∞ — the BRRRR ideal.

BRRRR

brrrr

Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. A capital-recycling strategy: purchase a distressed or under-priced property, renovate it, rent it, then refinance at the higher post-renovation appraisal to pull most of your original cash back out for the next deal.

Refinance Loan = ARV × LTV% (industry standard: 75%)

Methodology: David Greene, Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat (BiggerPockets Publishing, 2019). See also our investment models page.

ARV (After Repair Value)

arv

The appraised market value of a property after a planned renovation is complete. Used in BRRRR and value-add strategies to size the refinance loan — and to decide whether the renovation budget is justifiable.

ARV = Post-renovation market value (appraised)

LTV (Loan-to-Value)

ltv

The size of a mortgage as a percentage of the property's value. A 75% LTV refinance on a €500,000 ARV produces a €375,000 loan. Standard Nordic owner-occupier mortgage LTV is 80–95%; investment refinance LTV is typically 70–80%.

LTV = (Loan Amount ÷ Property Value) × 100

Cap Rate (Capitalization Rate)

cap-rate

Net operating income divided by property value, expressed as a percentage. The commercial-real-estate cousin of net rental yield, used to compare income properties across asset classes.

Cap Rate = (Net Operating Income ÷ Property Value) × 100

Cash Flow (Monthly)

cash-flow

Rent minus mortgage payment minus all operating expenses, calculated per month. Positive cash flow is income you keep; negative cash flow is money you contribute to the property each month.

Monthly Cash Flow = Rent − Mortgage − Operating Expenses

In high-price Nordic markets (central Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm), leveraged apartments often run break-even or slightly negative — see our Copenhagen analysis.

Appreciation

appreciation

Increase in property value over time, expressed as an annual percentage. The dominant return engine in supply-constrained Nordic and tier-1 European cities where yields compress below 4%.

Projected Value (year N) = Price × (1 + appreciation rate)^N

Appreciation rates we use come from Statistics Denmark / SCB / SSB. We never extrapolate beyond what the published series support.

Wealth Engine

wealth-engine

The mechanism by which a property generates returns. NordInvest evaluates four engines on every analysis:

A · Cashflow Engine — monthly income from rent.
B · Appreciation Engine — long-term price growth.
C · Leverage Effect — return amplification via mortgage debt.
D · Market Context — area benchmark fit.

The Investment Score and classification (Cashflow / Appreciation / Hybrid / Value-Add / Poor) are derived from the relative strength of these four engines.

Stress Test (Interest Rate)

stress-test

Recalculating monthly cash flow at hypothetically higher interest rates — typically +1% and +2% above the current rate — to see whether the investment survives a rate shock. The standard test for any leveraged deal.

Cash Flow (stressed) = Rent − Mortgage(rate + Δ) − Expenses

If a deal fails the +2% stress test, it's too tight at today's rates.

Down Payment (Equity Contribution)

down-payment

The portion of a property's purchase price paid in cash, with the remainder financed by a mortgage. Nordic standard for owner-occupiers is 5–20%, for investment properties typically 20–25%.

Down Payment = Property Price × Down Payment %

Value-Add

value-add

A strategy of forcing appreciation through specific levers: renovation to raise rent, converting a single-family into a duplex, changing use, splitting a large unit, or fixing operational problems. Returns come from your work, not market wind.

See our investment models page for when Value-Add fits a deal — and when it doesn't.

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