Rent, sell or hold calculator

Short answer: Rent, sell or hold turns on three numbers: the net rent the flat earns after costs, the proceeds a sale leaves after selling costs and capital-gains tax, and what that money would earn invested elsewhere. This tool prices all three paths over your horizon and shows the appreciation rate at which holding beats selling.

An owner living abroad asks this question every few years and usually answers it on feel. The flat is let and the tenant leaves, or a broker calls with a price, or the family stops using it. What follows is a choice worth tens of lakh, made without the arithmetic.

This calculator does the arithmetic. It prices the three paths on the same horizon: let the flat and bank the net rent, sell it and invest the proceeds, or keep it empty and own the appreciation. Then it shows the appreciation rate at which keeping the flat overtakes selling it, so you can judge whether your own forecast clears that bar.

What it does

End wealth on all three paths over the horizon you choose
Capital-gains tax from the same engine as our property-sale TDS calculator
The cost of an empty flat, stated as a number rather than a feeling
The crossover appreciation rate where holding beats selling
A downloadable report with every line of the comparison

The question every owner abroad puts off

A flat in India, an owner in Dubai or New Jersey, and a decision that keeps getting deferred. Rent it, sell it, or leave it as it is. The deferral is itself a choice, and it is usually the third one. An empty flat feels like the safe option because nothing has to be organised, no tenant has to be trusted, and no price has to be accepted. It is the most expensive of the three.

This calculator puts all three on one horizon and one measure: what you are worth at the end. Renting gives you net rent plus whatever the flat appreciates. Selling gives you the proceeds after costs and tax, compounded at whatever your money earns elsewhere. Holding empty gives you appreciation minus the dues that run regardless. The winner is whichever number is biggest, and the useful part is watching which assumption moves it.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm your own position with a qualified adviser.

What each path earns

Rent. Start with twelve months of rent, remove the weeks the flat sits empty between tenants, remove the management fee on what is collected, then remove society dues, property tax, and upkeep. What is left is net operating income, and on a metro flat it is a thinner number than the rent suggests. Add the flat's value at the end of the horizon, and add the rent you banked along the way, compounded at your alternative rate.

Sell. Take today's value, remove brokerage, registration, and legal, then remove the capital-gains tax. What is left is the money in your hand. Compound it at the rate you would truly get elsewhere, after tax, for the length of the horizon.

Hold empty. Take the flat's value at the end of the horizon and remove the carrying costs, compounded, because that money would have earned something too. There is no rent line, which is the whole point.

The capital-gains tax on the sell path

The sale branch does not invent a rate. It calls the same engine as our NRI property-sale TDS calculator, so the two tools can never drift apart. That engine applies long-term capital-gains tax at 12.5 percent without indexation for property held over twenty-four months, following the amendment to Section 112 effective 23 July 2024, with surcharge capped at 15 percent on those gains and 4 percent health and education cess on top. An NRI cannot use indexation; the 20 percent indexed option is open to resident individuals and HUFs alone.

Separately from the tax, the buyer withholds TDS under Section 195 on the full sale value rather than on your gain. The report shows both the withholding and the gap between it and your real tax, because that gap is your own money sitting with the department until a refund arrives. A Section 197 lower-deduction certificate, filed before you sign, closes it. The TDS guide walks through the application.

The crossover, and why it is the number to remember

Every verdict here rests on a forecast nobody can make: how fast the flat appreciates. Rather than pretend otherwise, the tool inverts the question. It reports the annual appreciation rate at which keeping the flat draws level with selling and investing. Above that rate, keeping wins. Below it, selling wins.

That single figure survives the uncertainty better than any point estimate. You do not need to know what the flat will do. You need to judge whether it will beat one specific number. If the crossover comes out at 9 percent a year and your building has moved 4 percent a year for a decade, the answer is in front of you. If it comes out at 3 percent, keeping the flat is defensible on far weaker assumptions.

Set the appreciation input from registered sale prices in your own building, which the sub-registrar records and portals do not. Listing prices are asking prices, and in a slow market the gap between asking and registered is wide.

What the model leaves out

Four things, stated plainly so you can adjust for them.

Income tax on the rent. The rent path is compared before it, because the rate depends on your slab and your other Indian income. The rental income tax guide covers the standard deduction and what a tenant must withhold.
Tax on a later sale. If you rent for a decade and sell after, that sale carries its own capital-gains tax, which this comparison does not deduct from the end-of-horizon value.
Currency. Everything here is in rupees. If you measure your wealth in dollars or dirhams, a weakening rupee reduces both the rent and the appreciation. The rent-versus-buy calculator models that drag.
Repatriation. Sale proceeds leave India through your NRO account under an annual limit and a certification process. The repatriation calculator and the NRO guide cover it.

Where 66 MG Road fits

If the numbers point at renting, the obstacle is rarely the maths. It is that nobody is there to find the tenant, sign the agreement, collect the rent, and fix the geyser. That is the job we do: tenant search, paperwork, rent into your NRO account on time, repairs handled without markup, and dated proof of all of it. If the numbers point at selling, we run the sale side too, including the Section 197 application before you sign. See the services or ask for a proposal.

Common questions

Should I rent out or sell my flat in India as an NRI?

Compare three end numbers over the same horizon: net rent plus the flat's future value, sale proceeds after costs and capital-gains tax compounded at your alternative return, and appreciation minus carrying costs if you keep it empty. Rental yields in Indian metros are thin, so the case for keeping usually rests on appreciation. Check whether your appreciation forecast clears the crossover rate the calculator reports.

How much capital-gains tax does an NRI pay on selling property in India?

Property held over twenty-four months is long-term, taxed at 12.5 percent without indexation under Section 112 as amended from 23 July 2024, plus surcharge capped at 15 percent on those gains and 4 percent cess. An NRI cannot choose the 20 percent indexed route, which is open to resident individuals and HUFs only. The buyer separately withholds TDS under Section 195 on the full sale value.

Is it worth keeping a flat in India empty?

Rarely, on the arithmetic. An empty flat earns appreciation only, while society dues, property tax, and upkeep keep running, and an unoccupied flat deteriorates faster and attracts more risk. The calculator states the cost of that choice as a rupee figure against the sell-and-invest path so it stops being a vague feeling.

What appreciation rate should I use in a rent, sell or hold calculation?

Use registered sale prices for comparable flats in your own building over recent years, taken from the sub-registrar record rather than from portal listings, which show asking prices. If you cannot get comparables, run the calculation at two rates, one optimistic and one pessimistic, and see whether the verdict changes.

What should the alternative return rate be?

The return you would get on the money after tax, not a headline market number. For many owners that is a fixed deposit or a debt fund rather than an equity index, because the money is earmarked. Setting it too high makes selling look better than it is, and setting it too low does the reverse.

Does this calculator account for tax on the rent?

No. The rent path is compared before income tax, because the rate depends on your slab and your other Indian income. A tenant paying rent to an NRI also withholds TDS under Section 195, which is a credit against your final tax rather than an extra cost. Treat the rent figures as pre-tax and read the rental income tax guide for the rest.

More free tools

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NRI rent vs buy calculator — Measured in the currency you actually live in.
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