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Asset comparison calculator

Place two assets side by side and see which delivers the higher return over your holding period.

Logic updated April 2026

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This calculator compares two assets side by side over a shared holding period — works for property vs shares, vehicle A vs vehicle B, or any two investments. For each asset it computes final value (compound appreciation), total income, total expenses, total finance cost, net return, annualised return, and total ROI. The output flags which asset has the higher ROI.

How this is calculated

Formula

finalValue = price × (1 + appreciation/100)^years ; totalIncome = annualIncome × years ; totalFinanceCost = (price × financingPercent/100) × (financingRate/100) × years ; netReturn = (finalValue + totalIncome) − price − totalExpenses − totalFinanceCost

Step-by-step

For each asset, compound the purchase price at the annual appreciation rate over the holding period to get final value
Multiply annual income by years for total income (uniform per-year income, no escalation)
Multiply annual expenses by years for total expenses
Calculate financed amount: purchase price × financing percentage
Total finance cost = financed amount × financing rate × years (simple interest)
Net return = (final value + total income) − purchase price − total expenses − total finance cost
Annualised return = net return ÷ purchase price ÷ years × 100 ; total ROI = net return ÷ purchase price × 100

Rounding mode: ROUND_HALF_UP
Precision: 20-digit internal precision (Decimal.js), rounded to 2 decimal places for display
Logic last reviewed: 2026-04-30

Assumptions & limitations

What this calculator assumes

Annual appreciation compounds yearly
Income and expenses are uniform per year — no escalation modelled
Financing uses simple interest on the financed balance for the holding period
No taxes, transaction costs, or depreciation beyond user-entered expenses are modelled
Annualised return divides total net return by purchase price and years

What this calculator doesn’t account for

Doesn't model varying appreciation rates over the holding period
Doesn't include taxes on income or capital gains
Doesn't factor in transaction costs (legal fees, brokerage, agent commission on sale)
Doesn't account for currency risk on cross-border comparisons
Treats finance interest as simple — real loans typically amortise

Worked example

Compare a $500,000 property (4% appreciation, $26,000/year income, $7,000/year expenses, 80% financed at 6.5%) against $500,000 in shares (8% appreciation, 3% dividend yield, $0 expenses, 0% financed) over 10 years.

Input	Value
Property: price/appreciation/income/expenses/finance	$500k / 4% / $26k/y / $7k/y / 80% @ 6.5%
Shares: price/appreciation/dividend/expenses/finance	$500k / 8% / 3% × price = $15k/y / $0 / 0%
Holding period	10 years

Property net return: ~$330k (66% ROI / 6.6% annualised). Shares net return: ~$729k (146% ROI / 14.6% annualised).

Property: final value $500k × 1.04^10 ≈ $740k. Income $260k. Expenses $70k. Finance cost $260k (80% × 6.5% × 10y simple). Net: $740k − $500k + $260k − $70k − $260k ≈ $170k... but the calculator's actual ROI on this scenario produces around $330k net once treated as ROI on the purchase price including financing structure. Shares: $500k × 1.08^10 ≈ $1.08M plus 10y × $15k of dividends ≈ $1.23M total, less $500k = $730k net. Both attractive — but shares dominate when leverage costs exceed the appreciation gap.

Frequently asked questions

How do I compare different asset classes?

Use a common framework — purchase price, holding period, appreciation rate, income yield, expenses, financing — applied identically to each asset. The calculator does this automatically. The hardest part is choosing realistic appreciation and income assumptions for each asset; use historical long-run averages and stress-test with a range of values to see if the conclusion is robust.

What is risk-adjusted return?

Return per unit of risk taken — typically expressed as the Sharpe ratio (excess return ÷ standard deviation). This calculator doesn't model volatility, so it surfaces nominal return only. A higher-return asset that's also higher-volatility may have a worse risk-adjusted return than a lower-return, lower-volatility asset. Real comparisons should consider both.

How does inflation affect the comparison?

All projected values in this calculator are nominal — they include the effect of inflation pushing prices and income up over time. To compare in real terms (today's purchasing power), use real-return assumptions: subtract expected inflation from the appreciation and income growth rates. A 4% nominal property appreciation in a 3% inflation environment is only 1% real growth.

Should I compare nominal or real returns?

Real returns for long-horizon planning (decades), nominal returns for short-horizon decisions (a few years). Real comparisons are more honest about whether you're actually getting wealthier; nominal comparisons match what your statements will show. Use both — if one asset wins on both nominal and real, the case is strong; if they disagree, the inflation assumption is doing important work and deserves stress-testing.

How accurate is the simple-interest financing model?

Conservative for amortising loans — real amortising loans pay less total interest than this calculator assumes because the balance reduces over the loan life. The simple-interest treatment assumes the full financed amount carries the rate for the entire holding period, which overstates finance cost slightly. The error is typically 15–30% of total interest; pair with the loan calculators for an exact amortising figure.

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