balivillacareWhat a Bali villa actually yields
Key takeaways
- There is no honest single yield figure for Bali villas, and a site quoting one without a sample and a method has not measured it either.
- What is measurable and sourced is the gap between booking and bank account: on this site’s model, 68–85%modelled of gross booking revenue does not reach the owner.
- Occupancy and nightly rate are not interchangeable. Two villas with identical revenue net differently, and the higher-occupancy one usually nets less.
- A leasehold yield that is not amortised over the lease term is not comparable to a freehold yield, and most published comparisons are not amortised.
This page does not contain a yield figure for Bali villas, and the reason it does not is the most useful thing on it.
Why we are not giving you a number
The nearest comparable site in an adjacent market publishes cost figures described as synthesized from public market data using AI research. No sample size, no collection period, no source. It reads authoritative and it is unfalsifiable, which are the same property.
A Bali-wide villa yield figure would be exactly that. It would require achieved nightly rates and achieved occupancy across a defined sample of villas, over a defined period, segmented by area and bedroom count. That data exists commercially. We have not bought it, we have not measured it, and a number produced without it would be a guess with a decimal point on it.
How to read the numbers on this page. A figure with no marker is quoted from a primary source and linked at the foot of the page. reported means the company that charges it publishes no public rate card, so the range comes from trade reporting rather than from the charging party. modelled means it came out of the model set out on the methodology page, which you can disagree with line by line.
What is actually knowable, and sourced
The part of the yield question that can be answered from published sources is the part between the booking and the bank account — and it is the part most projections skip.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| What the guest pays | USD 6,000 |
| Accommodation tax (PBJT)Charged on what the guest pays. Not applicable to a let of more than one month. | −USD 600 |
| Booking revenue | USD 5,400 |
| Platform commissionWeighted across the channel mix at 14.2%. | −USD 768 |
| Management commission20% of booking revenue — charged on the booking, not on what is left after the platform. | −USD 1,080 |
| Channel manager and payment processing | −USD 108 |
| Housekeeping, laundry and grounds | −USD 540 |
| Markup on services bought for youZero if the contract says these are rebilled at cost. | −USD 54 |
| Transfer from the managerWhat lands in your account. Everything below this line happens outside their statement. | USD 2,850 |
| Utilities, repairs and replacement | −USD 378 |
| Final income tax on the rent10% of the gross rent, not of the profit. | −USD 540 |
| Reaches the owner | USD 1,932 |
| Share of the guest’s money that does not | 68% |
On the tight end of the model USD 1,932 reaches the owner; on the loose end, USD 893. Whatever gross revenue assumption a projection uses, that walk has to happen to it, and a projection that jumps from gross booking revenue to “net yield” without showing it has not done the arithmetic in front of you.
Five different things all called yield
| What it measures | Why it flatters | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross yield | Annual gross booking revenue ÷ purchase price | Ignores every deduction on this site. Always the largest number, which is why it is the one in the advertisement |
| Net yield on price | Owner net ÷ purchase price | Depends entirely on what was deducted before the word net, which is rarely stated |
| Net yield on total invested | Owner net ÷ (price + furnishing + fees + setup) | The honest denominator, and the one least often used, because it is 15–25% larger |
| Cash-on-cash | Owner net ÷ cash actually put in | Meaningful with leverage, meaningless without it, and often quoted where there is none |
| Leasehold yield | Owner net ÷ lease premium | Ignores that the asset is worth nothing at the end. Without amortisation it is not comparable to a freehold at all |
The occupancy trap
Two villas each grossing USD 6,000 a month. One books 40% of nights at a strong rate. The other books 75% at a soft one. Same revenue.
They do not net the same, and the higher-occupancy one usually nets less. Occupancy is what drives the variable costs: cleaning between every stay, laundry, consumables, check-in labor, wear on furniture and the pool plant, and the small maintenance that follows use. The nightly rate drives revenue; the occupancy drives cost. A villa chasing occupancy with discounting is buying revenue with margin, and on a statement that reports only the top line it looks like it is winning.
The test: ask for revenue and nights sold, not revenue alone. If your manager reports one and not the other, you cannot tell which of these two villas you own.
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What moves a Bali villa's revenue, in rough order
- Location at street level, not at area level. “Canggu” is not a location. A five-minute walk from the beach path and a fifteen-minute scooter ride through traffic are different products in the same postcode.
- Bedroom count against the market for it. Bedrooms add revenue and add staffing, cleaning and wear faster than they add rate. The relationship is not linear and it turns over somewhere.
- The pool, and whether photographs of it are any good. The single most photographed object in this market. Professional photography pays for itself faster than almost any other spend, and it is one of the things a marketing-only plan buys you.
- Review count and recency. Compounding, unmovable between accounts, and the reason the listing-ownership clause is worth more than a point of commission. Why that clause matters.
- Channel mix. Not demand — margin. The same booking is worth materially different amounts depending on where it came from. What each channel costs.
Three questions that test any projection
- What monthly gross booking revenue does this assume, at what occupancy and what average rate? If those three do not reconcile, stop there.
- List every line deducted before you called it net. A projection with fewer than six is missing something on this page.
- Is the management commission charged on gross or on what is left after the platform? The answer is in a contract. A projection whose author does not know has not read one.
Common questions
What rental yield does a Bali villa produce?
Nobody publishing a single number for that has measured it, including us. What can be said with a source is what happens between the booking and the owner's account: on this site's model, 68–85% of gross booking revenue does not reach the owner once fees, operating costs and Indonesian tax are taken off. Any yield figure you are quoted that does not show that walk is a gross figure wearing a net label.
Why does every agent quote a different yield?
Because they are measuring different things and rarely saying which. Gross yield against purchase price, net yield against purchase price, net yield against total invested including furnishing, return on a leasehold with no residual value, and cash-on-cash all produce different numbers from the same villa. Ask which one, and ask what is deducted before the word net.
Should I use occupancy or ADR to compare villas?
Neither on its own. A villa at 80% occupancy and a soft rate and a villa at 50% and a strong rate can produce the same revenue with completely different cost bases, because occupancy is what drives cleaning, laundry, consumables and wear. Two villas with identical revenue can net very differently, and the higher-occupancy one is usually the lower-netting one.
Does a leasehold villa yield more?
It shows a higher yield on the arithmetic, because the denominator is smaller and the lease is a wasting asset. A twenty-five year leasehold that returns 12% is not outperforming a freehold that returns 8% unless the comparison amortises the lease over its term. Most published comparisons do not.
What does the model leave out?
Purchase price, lease amortisation, furnishing and refurbishment cycles, insurance, currency movement between what you spend in and rupiah, and tax at home. The model answers what happens to a booking between the guest and your account. Reading it as a return on capital is a mistake, and it is our mistake if we do not say so.
How should I sanity-check a yield projection I have been given?
Three questions. What gross booking revenue does this assume per month, and at what occupancy? What is deducted before you call it net — list every line? And is the management commission charged on gross or on what is left after the platform? A projection that cannot answer the third question was not built from any actual contract.
Sources cited on this page
- Airbnb — Service fees (host service fee percentages)
- UU No. 1 Tahun 2022 (HKPD) — Pasal 54, Pasal 58
- PP No. 34 Tahun 2017 — income tax on land and building rental
- Perda Provinsi Bali No. 6 Tahun 2023 — foreign tourist levy
- Villa Management Bali — published pricing plans
- Balitecture — published villa management rate
Every figure above was read from the source it is attributed to on 20 September 2026. How we check this.