Commercial property yields in the UK
Most yield figures you'll find are agents' prime yields: what the best buildings let to the strongest tenants trade at. This page shows something different: the yields printed in today's UK commercial auction catalogues, by property type and region, and what each one becomes once you pay the fees and tax to buy it.
Every figure comes from 279 live lots where the auction house published a rent or a yield. Our own rent estimates are left out.
Key facts, 18 Oct 2026
- The median published gross yield on 279 live UK commercial auction lots is 11.0%.
- After the buyer's fee, stamp duty (or its Scottish or Welsh equivalent) and £2,500 of legal costs, the median net yield is 10.6%: a typical gap of 0.4 percentage points.
- By property type, industrial lots show the highest median gross yield (13.3%, 31 lots) and land the lowest (9.1%, 6 lots).
- London lots show a median gross yield of 8.8% (35 lots), against 11.0% across the UK.
Yields by property type
Gross yield is the published rent over the guide price. Net yield is that rent over the guide plus everything it costs to buy (method below). Only types with 5 or more lots are shown; small groups swing on one lot.
| Property type | Lots | Median gross yield | Median net yield | Payback (net) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail | 91 | 12.5% | 11.8% | 8.4 yrs |
| Mixed-use | 88 | 9.7% | 8.8% | 11.3 yrs |
| Industrial | 31 | 13.3% | 12.6% | 7.9 yrs |
| Office | 23 | 10.2% | 9.9% | 10.1 yrs |
| Leisure | 21 | 11.0% | 10.7% | 9.4 yrs |
| Other | 15 | 9.2% | 8.8% | 11.3 yrs |
| Land | 6 | 9.1% | 8.7% | 11.5 yrs |
Left out, with fewer than 5 lots carrying a published yield today: Hotel (4).
Read the spread as a price of risk, not a ranking of good and bad. High-yield types tend to have shorter leases, local tenants or buildings that need work; low-yield lots tend to have long leases to national tenants or land value behind them. You can browse every lot behind these numbers, filtered to published figures, in the lots browser.
Yields by region
| Region | Lots | Median gross yield | Median net yield | Payback (net) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 95 | 13.4% | 12.2% | 8.2 yrs |
| London | 35 | 8.8% | 7.9% | 12.7 yrs |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 27 | 13.8% | 12.6% | 7.9 yrs |
| North West | 24 | 11.7% | 11.1% | 9.0 yrs |
| East of England | 22 | 10.1% | 9.7% | 10.3 yrs |
| South East | 21 | 9.3% | 9.0% | 11.2 yrs |
| South West | 19 | 11.0% | 10.7% | 9.3 yrs |
| East Midlands | 10 | 8.7% | 8.4% | 11.9 yrs |
| West Midlands | 10 | 11.2% | 10.9% | 9.2 yrs |
| Wales | 10 | 12.6% | 12.2% | 8.2 yrs |
| North East | 6 | 12.4% | 11.9% | 8.4 yrs |
Today Yorkshire and the Humber has the highest median gross yield among regions with enough lots (13.8%) and East Midlands the lowest (8.7%). For the lots themselves, see our market pages for commercial property auctions in London, Manchester and the North West and Scotland.
Gross yield and net yield: what changes
Gross yield is the rent divided by the price: a lot guided at £250,000 and let at £20,000 a year yields 8.0%. It is the figure auction catalogues print.
Net yield, as Cornerlot works it out, divides the same rent by everything you pay to own the building: the price, the auction house's buyer's fee, the transfer tax and £2,500 for your solicitor and searches. Valuers quoting a "net initial yield" use the same idea with a standard allowance for purchaser's costs; we use the actual fee for that house and the actual tax for that region.
Here is the same £250,000 shop, let at £20,000, bought in England, Scotland and Wales:
| Cost | England | Scotland | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £250,000 | £250,000 | £250,000 |
| Buyer's fee (typical, assumed) | £1,800 | £1,800 | £1,800 |
| Transfer tax | £2,000Stamp Duty Land Tax | £1,000Land and Buildings Transaction Tax | £250Land Transaction Tax |
| Solicitor and searches (assumed) | £2,500 | £2,500 | £2,500 |
| Total cost | £256,300 | £255,300 | £254,550 |
| Net yield | 7.80% | 7.83% | 7.86% |
Illustrative lot, not a real one. Tax at non-residential rates checked 15 Oct 2026: Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in England and Northern Ireland, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in Scotland, Land Transaction Tax (LTT) in Wales. The buyer's fee is a typical £1,500 + VAT where a house's own fee isn't used. VAT on the price, where the seller has opted to tax, is left out because it is usually recoverable.
On this lot the gap between gross (8.0%) and net in England (7.80%) is about 0.2 percentage points. On cheaper lots the fixed fee and legal costs weigh more, so the gap grows as the price falls. Each house's own fee is on our page comparing UK commercial property auction houses.
Payback: the same number, turned round
Payback is 100 divided by the yield: how many years of rent it takes to repay what you paid. At the median net yield of 10.6%, that is 9.4 years. It ignores rent reviews, voids, repairs, finance and tax, so use it to compare lots, not to forecast. On Cornerlot, each lot's page works out its own net yield and payback with that house's fee and that region's tax (see what Cornerlot shows on every lot).
Why auction yields look high
Our view, not a measured fact: auction lots are mostly smaller, secondary buildings, often with short leases or local tenants, and sellers use auctions for speed. Agents' published prime yields describe a different market, so the two shouldn't be compared directly. And a published yield is the seller's rent over the guide: lots often sell above guide (see what they fetched in our guide to buying commercial property at auction), which lowers the yield you actually get.
How we get these numbers
Cornerlot reads the online catalogues of the UK auction houses listed on our About page every morning. This page uses live lots (sale date today or later) where the house published a rent or a yield, between 0% and 30%; lots without one, and every rent we estimate ourselves, are left out. Where a house published only the rent, gross yield is rent over guide. The net yield uses each house's published buyer's fee (checked 15 Oct 2026, a typical £1,500 + VAT where unknown), the transfer tax for the lot's region at non-residential rates, and £2,500 legal costs. Prices are guides, and for one house opening bids, not sale prices. Figures are medians and refresh every hour.
General information, not financial, tax or investment advice. Yields describe the lots as published; they are not a forecast of any return.
Questions people ask
What is a good yield on commercial property in the UK?
There is no single good figure: yield is the price of risk. Across 279 live UK auction lots with a published rent, the median gross yield is 11.0%. A yield well above that usually reflects a short lease, a weak tenant, a building that needs money or a weak location, so the lease and the legal pack matter more than the headline number.
What is the difference between gross and net yield?
Gross yield is the annual rent divided by the price. Net yield divides the rent by everything it costs to buy: the price plus the buyer's fee, stamp duty (or its Scottish or Welsh equivalent) and legal costs. Some investors also deduct running costs the landlord can't recover; on a full repairing and insuring lease these are small.
How do I calculate payback on a commercial property?
Payback in years is 100 divided by the yield. At an 8% yield the rent repays the price in 12.5 years, before costs, voids, rent changes and tax. Use the net yield for a truer figure.