When someone tells you a flat yields 7%, the first thing to ask is: gross or net? Between that headline and the money that reaches your account sit taxes, management, empty months and repairs. In Spain, the real net figure hovers at 2.5-4%. The Land of Nomads managed-rental model in the Philippines projects net yields of 12% to 25%, depending on project and occupancy.
This piece runs the comparison the listing portals skip: real net returns, with every cost on top, between a Spanish rental and the Land of Nomads model in the Philippines.
What happens to the 7% gross in Spain
Per Idealista (2025 data), the average gross rental yield in provincial capitals sits around 7.1%. Take a concrete case: a 150,000-euro flat in a coastal tourist area throwing off 10,500 euros gross a year.
Fixed costs eat that number fast. The annual municipal tax (IBI) runs 600 to 900 euros. Community fees add 600 to 1,200. Home insurance, 250 to 400. A maintenance reserve (figured at 1-2% of value) runs 1,500 to 3,000. Delegate the management and you pay another 15-25% of gross. Utilities during empty spells add 600 to 1,000 more.
Then come the variable costs: two to four months unlet (1,750 to 3,500 euros of lost income), income tax on the net, and the tourist licence where it applies. Run a mid case: from 10,500 gross you take off roughly 7,000 in fixed costs and 2,625 in vacancy (three months), leaving about 875 before income tax, and after tax around 705 euros a year. That is a 0.47% net on the 150,000 put in.
It is a pessimistic case, but a realistic one once you add it all up. At best (low costs, little vacancy, self-management) you can reach 3-4% net. Bank of Spain figures confirm the real net return lands between 2.5% and 4% for most private landlords.
What the Land of Nomads model includes
When you acquire an eco-villa in San Fernando (from $129,900) or an eco-apartment in El Nido (from $174,900), the unit enters a hotel pool run end to end by Land of Nomads: marketing, bookings, check-in, cleaning, maintenance, administration, accounting and guest care. All in.
As an operating cost you pay the management fee (folded into the split), extraordinary maintenance if it applies, and the local Philippine taxes, well below Spain’s. You do not choose between running it yourself (daily effort) or paying 20-25% to an outside manager: the management is built in from the design.
Land of Nomads presents three occupancy scenarios. The San Fernando eco-villas project a net yield of 12% to 18% (occupancy from 50% to 80%), at a nightly rate from $109. The El Nido eco-apartments project a net yield of 18% to 25% (same occupancy ranges), at a nightly rate from $285. Those yields already net out management, operating costs and local taxes. They are projections based on comparable establishments in each area, not guarantees.
The risks that finish the picture
The Philippines carries its own risks. Currency risk (you put in dollars, the hotel pool earns in Philippine pesos) can move the net return. Tourism-market risk exists, though the government is targeting 35 million tourists by 2028 against 5.4 million in 2023. Distance (11-14 hours by air) is real, though the management is fully remote. And execution risk rests on Land of Nomads building, operating and marketing well.
Spain, for its part, carries risks that rarely surface in the portal projections. Extraordinary levies (facades, lifts, roofs) can run into thousands of euros. And tourist regulation shifts constantly: Barcelona has restricted it, Mallorca imposes moratoriums, Valencia tightens its rules. One regulatory change can wipe out your income stream overnight.
What the numbers say
This is not about Spain being a bad market and the Philippines a cure-all. It is that the numbers, once they pass through taxes, management, vacancy and upkeep, tell a different story from the “7% gross” headline. If your aim is passive net returns above 10%, the Spanish holiday-let market will not hand it to you in 2026.
The Land of Nomads model promises no miracles. It promises transparency: three scenarios, visible costs, management included. If you want the full breakdown of costs and projections for your case, we prepare a personalized simulation. San Fernando starts at $1,159.75 a month, and here is the detail on no-bank installment financing.
