I am now serious about my property investment, I have to be - that investment is vital for supplementing my pension. I own one house that I was living in until recently then I let it out. There was no mortgage on the property so all the capital was tied up in the house and that made the yield very low. Yield in my view, is the return on your equity in the house. I am buying a house to let on the south coast (of England) in which my equity will be £55,000. The rent payable will be £9600 per year, that is 17% return on my investment. But of course there is a mortgage to pay and the repayments will be £7224. That leaves a nominal income of £2376 per year, but half of that is likely to be taken up for maintenance, insurance and contingencies. Why am I investing in property as a business? For the capital appreciation, is the answer. The loan represents 70 per cent of the price, and my investment is 30 per cent of the current market value. If the property increases in value by five per cent then my capital growth will be 16.6 per cent on my initial investment. I take the profit and the mortgage lender gets regular repayments. Over the past ten years property prices have risen on average by eight per cent so my figures are a conservative estimate. That is a brief background to my property investment strategy.