Break-even occupancy calculator.
How empty can a building get before it stops covering its own costs? Break-even occupancy is the percentage of rent you must collect to pay operating expenses and debt service — the deal’s margin of safety.
Reading your margin of safety
Break-even occupancy is a deal’s margin of safety expressed as a percentage: the share of potential rent you must actually collect to cover operating expenses and debt service. It equals operating expenses plus debt service, divided by gross potential rent. The lower it is, the more vacancy the property can absorb before the owner starts feeding it.
Example. A building with $315,000 of gross potential rent, $90,000 of expenses, and $161,500 of debt service breaks even at about 80% occupancy. That leaves a 20-point cushion — you could lose a fifth of your rent before going cash-flow negative. A break-even above 90% would mean almost no room for a single tenant to roll.
Frequently asked questions
Want this run on your real numbers?
Break-even occupancy is only as good as the operating assumptions behind it. Send me the property and I'll rebuild it from comparable buildings rather than round numbers.
Estimates are for planning only and use simplified assumptions — not tax, legal, or investment advice. Verify with your lender, CPA, and a full broker analysis before acting.
The number that tells you how much room you have
Break-even occupancy is the point where rental income exactly covers operating expenses and debt service. Above it you are fine; below it you are funding the property out of pocket.
It is the most honest single measure of how much risk a deal carries, because it converts leverage and expenses into one intuitive figure. A building that breaks even at 65% occupancy can lose a third of its tenants and survive. One that breaks even at 88% cannot lose much of anything.
Where the calculation goes soft
The usual three. Operating expenses understated because the seller self-manages or has not replaced anything in a decade. A vacancy factor of zero on a building that is currently full. And no capital reserve, which is not an operating expense but is still money that leaves.
Then the lease profile, which the formula cannot see. A building at 95% occupancy with every lease expiring in the same eighteen months is riskier than one at 85% with staggered terms. Check the rollover schedule alongside the ratio, and check it against the market: recorded tri-county sale volume has fallen about 46% since 2021, so re-tenanting into a thinner market takes longer than it used to.
Common questions
What is break-even occupancy?
The occupancy level at which rental income exactly covers operating expenses and debt service. Below it the owner funds the shortfall; above it the property is self-supporting.
What is a safe break-even occupancy?
Lower is safer, and the comfortable range depends on asset type and lease rollover. What matters more than the ratio itself is how much cushion sits between it and current occupancy, and whether leases expire together or are staggered.
What is usually missing from the calculation?
Understated operating expenses, a vacancy factor of zero on a currently full building, and no capital reserve. Adding all three typically moves break-even occupancy several points higher.
Tools: space · lease cost · occupancy cost · all calculators · Justin Crow, South Florida tenant rep