How BrickTrack calculates your numbers

Every figure in BrickTrack comes from what you enter or import. Here’s how each one is worked out, and where the gaps are. If a number looks wrong for a property you know well, tell us through the feedback link in the app.

Property value

Value is the most recent valuation you’ve entered. Until you enter one we use the purchase price. We don’t pull automated estimates, because we can’t stand behind them, so an old valuation will make equity and LVR look out of date.

Equity and LVR

Equity is value minus the loan balances you’ve entered against the property.
LVR is total loan balance divided by value.
A property with no loan shows full value as equity only once you’ve confirmed it’s owned outright. Until then we treat its equity as provisional.
The risk label reads low up to 60%, moderate up to 80%, elevated above 80% (where lenders usually charge LMI) and high above 90%.

Usable equity

Usable equity at a given LVR is value × that LVR, minus the loan balance, and never less than zero. We show it at 80% and 88% by default, and you can switch to 90% or 95%. Anything above 80% is flagged as likely to attract LMI. This is equity on paper; what a lender will actually release depends on your income and their own valuation.

Ownership share

Where you own part of a property, value and debt are both scaled by your share. On a joint loan each borrower is usually liable for the whole debt, so treat these figures as “your share” rather than a statement of what you owe.

Rental yield

Gross yield is annual rent divided by value.
Net yield takes off the costs you’ve recorded before dividing.
The property sheet also shows yield after full loan repayments and a debt-free yield (rent less non-interest costs), each against purchase price and against current value.
If no rent has been recorded we show a dash, not 0%, so an empty property doesn’t look like a bad one.

All yields are before tax.

Cash flow

Cash flow is built from your categorised transactions: rent in, everything else out, including interest. If you haven’t imported a cost (interest is the usual one), cash flow will look better than it is. The categories come from AI suggestions you confirm in the review queue, so a wrong category moves money to the wrong line until you correct it.

Projections and scenarios

Value grows at a fixed annual rate, 5% unless you change it. That’s a planning assumption you’re expected to override, not a forecast.
Principal-and-interest loans pay down on a standard amortisation schedule from your rate and repayment. Interest-only balances stay flat.
Scenarios such as “rates up 1%” rerun the same maths with the changed input. Rent, costs and vacancy in the cash flow projection compound at the rates you set.

Capital gains tax

The CGT estimate follows the ATO steps for each owner: apportion the cost base by share, work out the gain or loss, apply the main residence exemption (full or partial), apply capital losses, then the 50% discount if you’ve held for more than 12 months, and finally the extra tax on top of your other income at marginal rates.

For sales from 1 July 2027 we model the proposed changes to the CGT discount, including the valuation just before that date for property you already hold. They aren’t law yet, and the figures will change if the final rules do. The grandfathering calculator shows how a property would be treated.

What isn’t modelled yet

Tax residency changes part-way through ownership
The low-value pool election for depreciation
Differences between fixed and discretionary trusts
Automated valuations and live bank feeds

Not financial advice

BrickTrack is a record-keeping and modelling tool. Its figures are general information based on what you’ve entered, not financial, tax or lending advice. Check anything you’re acting on with your accountant, broker or adviser.