Where Airbnb Gets to Play Full House

Airbnb has long attracted property owners seeking higher margins on short-term tourist rentals than long-term leases for city residents. But extreme cases are emerging in Airbnb’s latest hot spots for growth: Japanese cities.

In June, around eight in 10 Airbnb listings in cities like Osaka and Tokyo were entire homes, up 6 percentage points on a year earlier, according to new data. Those were the biggest increases in cities that already had more full-home listings than most Airbnb markets. It reflected a move by landlords to cash in on the rapid growth of Airbnb listings in Japan generally.