Buy-to-let screening for South Africa

Reject weak buy-to-let deals in minutes. Investigate strong ones with evidence.

Evidence-backed buy-to-let analysis for Johannesburg, Cape Town and Gqeberha. YieldLens SA turns fragmented listing research into one transparent analysis: expected cash flow, upfront cash, yields, stress scenarios — and exactly what still needs verification.

Start free with 30 days full access See pricing

3,846Live screened listings

11,348Rental comparables

3Metro markets covered

30 daysFull access trial, no payment upfront

See where every feature earns its place

Real screening output from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Gqeberha — swipe through the tools that separate a serious candidate from a good-looking listing.

Discovery & screening

One ranked table. Every deal's economics, evidence and risk, side by side.

Thousands of live listings collapse into a single decision surface — ranked by your buy-box fit, moderate-stress survival and rent-evidence quality, not raw cash flow alone.

Rank, cash flow, stressed cash flow, DSCR, yield and cash-required in one row
Rank-movement arrows since the last data import
Buy-box, confidence and rent-risk chips on every listing

yieldlens.co.za/opportunities

Active screened opportunities

3,846 active listings from the collection pipeline · ranked by decision fit

Area	Type	Price	CF /m	Stress CF	DSCR	Yield	Status
Gardens · CT	Apt 3bd	R4.50m	+R11,652	+R1,182	1.35	16.2%	Pass
Woodstock · CT	House 4bd	R1.99m	+R4,039	−R662	1.28	16.2%	Verify first
Walmer · Gqeberha	House 5bd	R1.70m	+R3,133	−R904	1.25	16.2%	Verify first
Gardens · CT	House 2bd	R3.55m	+R2,250	−R5,376	1.09	14.1%	Watch

Default ranking uses your buy-box decision fit — evidence and stress-survival outweigh headline cash flow.

Filters & presets

Reshape the whole market to your buy-box in one click.

Save your rules once. Presets and live buy-box filters instantly re-sort thousands of listings and re-count how many pass, need verification, are worth watching, or fall outside your screen.

One-click presets: Buy-box pass · Stress-positive · Positive cashflow · Near misses
Named buy-boxes from Broad discovery to Strict
Live Pass / Verify first / Watch / Outside counts

yieldlens.co.za/opportunities

Investor presets

No presetBuy-box passStress-positivePositive cashflowNear misses

Good discovery buy-box

Max price R2.5mMax cash R700k Base cash flow ≥ R0Base DSCR 1.10× Gross yield 8%+Stressed CF ≥ −R1,000 Rent comps 3+Confidence Medium+

216Pass

431Verify first

689Watch

2,510Outside

Underwriting

One deal, three futures — base, moderate and severe stress.

Every candidate is recomputed with the pipeline's exact formula under a moderate and a severe downside, so you see whether it survives before you commit. Reconciliation is enforced by automated tests.

Moderate: rent −10%, costs +10%, interest 11.5%
Severe: rent −20%, costs +15%, interest 12.5%
Break-even rent and rent headroom on every deal

yieldlens.co.za/opportunities/woodstock-4bed

Woodstock · 4-bed house · R1,995,000

Selected rent R26,933/m · 20% deposit · 10.5% · 30-year term

	Base	Moderate	Severe
Monthly NOI	R22,830	R19,180	R15,540
Debt service	R17,830	R19,470	R20,290
Cash flow /m	+R4,039	−R662	−R5,012
DSCR	1.28	0.96	0.77

Break-even rent R21,687 — 19% headroom below the modelled rent. Recomputed with the pipeline's exact screening formula.

Evidence & risk

Every rand is labelled — and the rent number shows its receipts.

No figure floats free. Each is tagged Verified, Source-reported, Modelled or Your assumption, and each rent carries a 0–100 evidence score plus the comparables behind it.

Rent-risk tiers: Critical · High · Moderate · Lower · Unscreened
Comparable count, source count and observed range on every rent
A rent outside the comp range can never clear the buy-box

yieldlens.co.za/opportunities/woodstock-4bed

Rent evidence Strong · 78/100

Woodstock · 4-bed house

Basis: 16 comparables from 5 sources, 9 size-matched · range R23,818–R32,277 · median R31,870. Selected R26,933 sits inside the observed range. Asking-rent evidence, not guaranteed rent.

Evidence labels used across every figure

Verified Source-reported Modelled estimate Your assumption Missing

Market intelligence

Rank suburbs by real screened performance, not hype.

Compare investable areas on the numbers that matter — how many listings screen cash-flow positive, the best achievable cash flow, and movement from the Top-10 tracker.

Screened count, positive count and best cash flow per area
Top-10 tracker movement between runs
Coverage maturity shown honestly per city

yieldlens.co.za/market

Area performance

Tracked areas · counts are screening output, not recommendations

Area	City	Screened	Positive	Yield
Kwazakhele	Gqeberha	17	3	16.2%
Bethelsdorp	Gqeberha	17	4	15.8%
Kensington	Johannesburg	31	9	13.7%
Mulbarton	Johannesburg	24	6	13.4%
Humewood	Gqeberha	30	6	13.2%

Data trust

Never trade on stale data.

Every screen carries a timestamped freshness badge and honest coverage. When an import is old or a source goes quiet, the app says so — there is deliberately no button that fakes a refresh.

Timestamped freshness badge on every view
Per-source status and coverage maturity
Stale / recheck lifecycle labels, not silent gaps

yieldlens.co.za/data

Pipeline status

Data refreshed 07:56 SAST today

3,846Active screened

11,348Rental comps

917Medium+ evidence

Source	Coverage
Johannesburg	1,826 listings	Live
Cape Town	1,148 listings	Live
Gqeberha	872 listings	Building

Underwriting

Pit your shortlist against identical economics.

Line up 2–4 candidates on the same canonical engine and your own assumptions — base and stressed cash flow, DSCR, yield, cash required and break-even rent, column for column.

Same calculation engine and profile defaults for every column
Base and moderate-stress cash flow together
Break-even rent makes the safety margin explicit

yieldlens.co.za/compare

Compare shortlist

	Woodstock 4bd	Walmer 5bd
Asking price	R1.99m	R1.70m
Rent /m	R26,933	R22,950
Rent comps	16	17
Cash flow /m	+R4,039	+R3,133
Moderate stress	−R662	−R904
DSCR	1.28	1.25
Break-even rent	R21,687	R18,881
Cash required	R548,625	R467,500

Built on three non-negotiables

Evidence, not vibes

Every figure is labelled: source-reported, modelled estimate, or your own assumption — with rental comparables behind each rent number.

Full deal economics

Bond repayment, SARS transfer duty, levies, rates, vacancy, management — down to net monthly cash flow and cash-on-cash return.

Stress before you commit

Base, moderate and severe scenarios show what happens when rates rise or rent disappoints, plus a due-diligence checklist per property.

Screen your next deal with evidence, not optimism.

Every new account starts with 30 days of full access across the whole product. After that, the Free plan remains available and Investor Pro continues full stress-tested economics, rental evidence and side-by-side comparison at R99/month.

Start free with 30 days full access See pricing

What this is — and is not

YieldLens SA is a research and screening tool for self-directed investors focused on Johannesburg, Cape Town and Gqeberha residential buy-to-let. Rent figures are modelled from comparables, not guaranteed. We do not provide financial advice, and no ranking is a recommendation to buy. Listing data freshness and coverage vary by suburb. Example figures shown above are representative screening output and must be independently verified.