What Rental Yield Should You Expect From a Bahria Town Apartment?

Most buyers ask us about price first and yield second. Three years later, it is the yield they actually talk about — the gap between what the apartment earns and what it cost them. Price is a moment; yield is the relationship that lives with you for the whole holding period.

This post is about how to calculate rental yield properly, what turns an attractive headline number into the real figure that lands in your account, and what moves that number up or down across studios, 1-beds and 2-beds.

What rental yield actually measures

Rental yield is annual rent expressed as a percentage of what the apartment cost you. It is the speed at which the property pays you back, and the cleanest way to compare one apartment against another — or against a savings account, a plot, or a shop.

There are two versions, and confusing them is the single most common mistake we see:

• Gross yield = annual rent ÷ purchase price. It ignores every cost of owning and letting the unit. It is the number agents quote because it is the highest one.
• Net yield = (annual rent − annual costs) ÷ purchase price (ideally the all-in price, including transfer and any furnishing spend). It is the number you actually live on.

Gross is useful for comparison. Net is what you bank. Always ask which one you are being shown.

The costs that turn gross into net

The distance between gross and net is just the running cost of being a landlord. In Bahria Town apartments, the regular leaks are:

• Society and maintenance charges — the monthly building and community fees, billed whether or not the unit is occupied.
• Management and lettings — finding tenants, vetting them, handling renewals and complaints. Whether you pay an agent or do it yourself, it has a cost.
• Vacancy — the weeks between tenants when rent is zero. Even a well-run unit rarely stays let 12 months out of 12, year after year.
• Repairs and wear — touch-ups, fittings, appliances, the periodic repaint. A semi-furnished unit adds furniture and appliance upkeep on top.
• Minor recurring bills that fall to the owner rather than the tenant, plus any income tax due on rental earnings.

None of these is dramatic on its own. Together they are exactly why your net is meaningfully below your gross — and why two identical units can return very differently depending on how tightly they are run.

The numbers we see in Bahria Town Lahore

Across our own lettings, these are the gross yield bands by unit type:

• Studio: 6.5–8% gross yield
• 1-bed: 5.5–7% gross yield
• 2-bed: 4.5–6% gross yield

The pattern is consistent and worth internalising: the smaller the unit, the higher the yield. A studio earns rent against a low purchase price, so the ratio is strong. A 2-bed costs a lot more per square foot of rent it commands, so the yield compresses — but, as we will come to, it tends to hold value differently.

For reference, our studios run around 313 sqft, our 1-beds 465–500 sqft, and our 2-beds larger again — the size step explains much of the yield step.

A worked example: from gross to net

Let us walk a studio through, because it shows the mechanics without us inventing a single price. We will keep everything as a formula and use only the gross band above.

Say you pay X for a studio, and it lets for annual rent R.

Step 1 — gross yield.

Gross yield = R ÷ X

If that lands inside our band, you are at 6.5–8%. Take the middle of the road and call it 7% for the walk-through — your studio earns 7% of its purchase price in rent each year, on paper.

Step 2 — subtract the running costs. Now deduct society charges, a management allowance, a vacancy allowance, and a repairs allowance from R. Each one shaves a slice off the top.

Step 3 — net yield.

Net yield = (R − annual costs) ÷ X

The mechanics matter more than any specific figure: because every cost is subtracted from rent before dividing by the same price, net is always a few points of percentage below gross. A studio quoted at the 7% midpoint does not put 7% in your pocket — it puts in whatever is left after the leaks. The tighter you run vacancy and management, the closer your net creeps back toward that headline.

Do this same arithmetic for a 1-bed (start from 5.5–7%) or a 2-bed (start from 4.5–6%) and the shape repeats: a lower gross starting point, the same costs subtracted, a correspondingly lower net. This is why we always model the net, not the gross, before anyone commits.

Demand drivers by unit type

Yield only holds if the unit actually lets, quickly and repeatedly. Demand differs by type:

• Studios draw the deepest, fastest-moving tenant pool — single professionals, people posted to Lahore, anyone wanting a low monthly outlay near the commercial spine. High churn, but rarely empty for long. That demand is what underwrites the top yield band.
• 1-beds suit couples and professionals who want a separate bedroom. A slightly smaller pool than studios, a little stickier — tenants tend to stay longer once settled.
• 2-beds serve small families. The pool is narrowest and rent-sensitive, which is part of why the yield is lowest — but these tenants stay longest, so vacancy risk is lower and management is lighter once let.

What moves yield within a unit type

Two studios in the same project can sit at opposite ends of the 6.5–8% band. The levers:

• Distance from the commercial spine. Walkability is a real premium. A unit you can walk to shops and food from lets faster and higher than one that needs a drive.
• Furnishing level. Semi-furnished units rent faster and command more than bare shells. The furniture is a cost, but it usually buys back lower vacancy and stronger rent.
• Building management. A well-run building — clean, secure, responsive — holds tenants and rent. A neglected one bleeds both. This is structural, not cosmetic.
• Floor selection. The 2nd to 4th floors tend to outperform top and ground. They balance lift convenience, noise, light and privacy in the way most tenants quietly prefer.

When we say "ask us to model your specific unit," these are the variables we are pricing in.

Capital appreciation versus yield

Here is the trade-off nobody likes to hear: you rarely get both at once.

• High-yield, mature-block apartments — delivered, fully let, earning from day one — tend to appreciate slowly. The market has already priced the building. You are buying income, not a capital story. Our delivered GR-25 on Main Boulevard is the income-first archetype.
• Pre-launch and emerging-block apartments — like GR-03 at Tulip Commercial, currently in finishing — usually show lower running yield early because rents and occupancy are still maturing, but carry the higher capital-appreciation upside as the block completes and lets up.

Neither is "better." A buyer who needs monthly cash flow should lean toward the mature, high-yield end. One who can wait for value should accept a softer early yield for appreciation. A 50/50 payment plan makes the emerging-block route easier to hold while it matures. The mistake is expecting one apartment to deliver both maximally — it almost never does.

FAQ

Should I chase the highest yield? Not blindly. The highest gross usually belongs to the smallest unit with the most churn. If you want low management and steady tenants, a slightly lower yield on a 1-bed or 2-bed can suit you better. Match the unit to how hands-on you want to be.

Does furnishing really raise my return? Often, yes — semi-furnished units let faster and at higher rent, and lower vacancy frequently outweighs the furnishing cost. We model it both ways before recommending.

Why is my net so much lower than the gross I was quoted? Because gross ignores society charges, management, vacancy and repairs. That gap is normal — the fix is to look at net from the start, not to be surprised by it later.

Yield or appreciation — which should I pick? Whichever matches your timeline. Need income now: mature, high-yield, delivered. Can wait for value: emerging-block with appreciation upside.

How we source these numbers

The yield ranges above come from GR Developers' own lettings and resale data across Bahria Town Lahore as of February 2026. Actual yield depends on the specific unit, floor, and furnishing — ask us to model a particular unit before you commit.

Tell us the unit type, floor and furnishing you are considering, and we will run the gross-to-net for that exact apartment — no headline figures, just the number you would actually bank. Ask GR Developers to model a specific unit's yield before you decide.