Japan firm aims to double Airbnb returns

Star Mica, a Tokyo-listed real-estate company founded by an ex-Goldman Sachs Group banker, plans to double returns from apartments using Airbnb to house tourists from abroad, Bloomberg reported.

The company owns about 2,500 apartments mostly in Tokyo, and is considering renting some of them to overseas visitors from as early as next year using services such as that of Airbnb, said Masashi Mizunaga, the president of Star Mica.

It also acquired a stake in the Tokyo-based startup Squeeze, which provides services to help manage reservations and clean rooms for property owners, to let it sublease rooms of other firms or individuals, he said.

Corporate executives such as Mizunaga are trying to profit from a tourism boom in Japan that saw visitors from abroad jump 46 percent last year to a record 20 million people. While the influx has constricted hotel room availability, Airbnb hosts in Japan operate in a grey market now because current law doesn’t explicitly address house rentals, and the government is considering new regulations. The service has invited its share of controversy, with neighbors of Airbnb-listers worldwide complaining of rowdy renters during major sporting events.

“There aren’t enough hotels–when we take business trips to Kyoto or Osaka, it’s hard to find rooms,” said Mizunaga. On Airbnb, “we’re not going to go ahead with it while we’re still in a grey zone, but it won’t take two or three years, I think something will happen next year,” he said.