Sell or rent out? How to decide with numbers

A 90-square-meter apartment in Milano San Felice is worth about 256,000 euros for sale and yields about 11,500 euros gross per year in rent. These are the official quotes from the Agenzia delle Entrate for the second semester of 2025. Placed side by side, these two numbers indicate that it takes more than twenty-two years of rent to match what would be earned by selling — before taxes.

Stated this way, it seems selling always pays off. This is not true, and precisely because it is not true, it is worth doing the math seriously instead of deciding on impulse. This article lays out the necessary numbers and the questions to answer before making a choice.

The two starting numbers, by area

For a standard residential property, according to the OMI quotes for the second semester of 2025.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI, second semester 2025. Values refer to the gross surface area.

The gross yield indicates how much the property returns compared to its value. Below 4%, rent struggles to justify itself purely economically; above 5%, it starts to be interesting. In Segrate we are in the middle, which means the decision is not made by area figures: it is made by yours.

The five questions that really decide

1. Is the property ready or does it need work?

This is the most significant question, and almost no one puts it first. A property in normal condition rents as is; to sell well, it often pays to intervene, and the intervention must be anticipated. Conversely, a property that needs significant work can also be sold as is — at a lower price — while renting it requires immediate work because a tenant pays to live there, not to wait.

The difference between normal and excellent condition, according to the OMI quotes of Milano San Felice, is about 900 euros per square meter in sale price: for 90 square meters, that is over 80,000 euros. Knowing whether that jump is achievable with a reasonable expense completely changes the calculation.

2. Do you need capital, or do you need cash flow?

Selling converts an asset into immediately available money. Renting produces monthly income and preserves the asset, but that capital remains immobilized: if you need it tomorrow, it must be sold again, and in timing you do not control.

If the capital has a concrete destination — another purchase, a debt to close, a planned expense — selling makes sense that no 4% yield compensates. If there is no destination and the money would remain idle, the comparison shifts to what returns more elsewhere.

3. How much are you willing to manage?

Renting is not passive income. There is tenant selection, contract and its registration, yearly tax obligations, maintenance, relations with the HOA, and the possibility that something goes wrong. Those who rent know this; those who never have tend to underestimate it.

The concrete question is: are you able to manage a rented property for the next four years — which is the minimum duration of a free rent contract — or do you live far away, have little time, or prefer not to have worries?

4. What happens if the tenant stops paying?

This is the risk that most often blocks hesitant owners. It must be evaluated before, not after: the eviction procedure for nonpayment has times and costs that are better known in advance, as are the guarantees that can be requested to reduce the risk. It is not a sufficient reason not to rent, but it is enough reason not to rent lightly.

5. How does it combine with your tax situation?

Rental income adds to your overall situation, and the regime under which you tax it significantly changes the result. Selling also has tax implications that depend on when and how you purchased the property: those who sell within five years of purchase may generate a taxable capital gain, while those who inherited never generate it.

These are two separate considerations that both must be made, because they can shift the outcome of the comparison by several thousand euros.

The case often overlooked: the vacant property

There is a third option that no one deliberately chooses and many find themselves in: keeping the property empty. It is the worst of the three and worth stating explicitly.

An empty property generates nothing but continues to cost: IMU at full rate, fixed HOA fees, minimum utilities, maintenance that is still necessary. It deteriorates faster than an occupied one — inactive systems break down, humidity acts undisturbed. If a property has been empty for a long time without a precise reason, that is not a postponed choice: it is an inertia-driven decision, with a cost that grows every month.

A practical way to decide

Do the math over three horizons instead of one.

• One year: how much you net if you rent, versus how much you net if you sell. Over one year, the seller almost always earns more.
• Five years: cumulative net rent plus the value of the property in five years, versus proceeds from selling today plus what you would do with it. Here the game reopens.
• Ten years: the same, with a warning — at ten years, hypotheses about appreciation matter more than anything else, and no one knows them. Take this comparison for what it is: a scenario, not a prediction.

The point is not to find the right number. It is to realize which horizon you are reasoning on, because that determines the answer.

In summary

In Segrate, a rented property yields between 3.9% and 4.5% gross, and it takes over twenty years of rent to match the sale value. But the choice is not decided by that percentage: it is decided by the property’s condition, how you would use the capital, how much you are willing to manage, and your tax situation. The only almost always wrong option is the third one, leaving it empty.

If you have a property in Milano San Felice or Segrate and you are considering what to do, we can do the math for your specific case: realistic sale value, rent actually obtainable, timing, and costs of both paths. Write to us, even just to get the numbers.