Buying to let: what the real rental yield is.

From gross to net

How much ends up in your pocket?

Gross yield is the upper limit. Here is what happens to the rent on a two-room flat in Sofia on its way to your account:

The tax follows Art. 31 of the Personal Income Tax Act. The empty month and the 0.5% annual costs are our assumptions — for an older or furnished flat, costs are higher.

With the same assumptions, the net yield is about 4% in Plovdiv, 3.8% in Varna, 3.7% in Burgas and 3.6% in Stara Zagora. In Sofia, Ruse and Shumen it is below 3%, and in Veliko Tarnovo about 2.5%.

And that is from listings. Actual rents are often lower than asked, and sale prices also come down in actual deals. The two partly offset each other, but not entirely.

Airbnb and Booking

What about short-term letting?

The first question people ask: “What if I list it on Airbnb?” Platform data show that short-term letting really does bring in more gross. But the two main data sources differ by almost a factor of two:

Annual revenue per active listing on Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo over the 12 months to September 2026: Sofia — €7,330 per AirROI (41% occupancy) and €13,640 per AirDNA (65% occupancy); Varna — €5,715 and €11,050; Plovdiv — €5,490 and €9,840; Burgas — €4,190 and €9,930. Converted from US dollars at the ECB’s average rate over the last 12 months (1.1584). Yields are against the two-room flat prices in the table above — the most common short-term rental is a one-bedroom home.

The gap between AirDNA and AirROI comes mainly from occupancy: AirDNA counts how many available nights were booked and includes only active listings, while AirROI covers a wider set of listings, including those that operated for only part of the year. The truth for any specific flat lies somewhere in between.

But gross is not the whole story. With short-term letting, the owner pays for things a long-term tenant would pay. And averages mix well-run flats in the centre with outlying listings that operate only a few months a year. So we calculated three cases — the two averages and one well-chosen property:

Platform revenue figures include the cleaning fee the guest pays on top of the nightly rate — so cleaning is not a loss for the owner; the fee covers the cost. “Well-chosen property”: a listing in the Sredets district in the top 25% by revenue (over $2,000 a month per AirROI), at 44% occupancy and a price of €3,420 per sq m for 65 sq m — the average price in the centre in Address Real Estate’s sales data. The fee is Airbnb’s host fee since late 2025; Booking’s commission is agreed separately. Utilities, furnishing and tax are our assumptions — the tax regime depends on how the property is registered. A management company would take its own commission on top.

The average property in Sofia yields about the same as a long-term let — around 2.8% in the more optimistic case. A well-chosen one is a different story: with a strong location, good furnishing and active management, the net yield reaches about 4.7% — almost double a long-term let. That is why more and more investors buy homes specifically for short-term letting — small, central, close to the metro, with good photos and quick communication with guests.

The difference does not come for free, though. The property must be registered or categorised under the Tourism Act, a tourist tax is due on every night — between €0.10 and €1.53 depending on the municipality. It is built into the guest’s price and does not reduce your income, but you are the person liable for it: you declare it and pay it to the municipality by the 15th of the following month. And since 20 May 2026 the EU regulation on short-term rentals requires platforms to display the property’s registration number and remove unregistered listings. Above all, it takes work: guests every few days, cleaning, reviews, seasonal months.

Short-term letting is not more profitable in itself. A well-chosen, well-managed property is.