World's most successful Airbnb landlord makes $22m a year renting out London properties

The world's most successful Airbnb landlord made £11.9 million ($22.6m) in a single year from renting out his London properties. Photo / 123RF

The world's most successful Airbnb landlord made £11.9 million ($22.6m) in a single year by renting out his 881 London properties through the website, new research has shown.

While that represents the largest income made by an individual, the area bringing in the most cash was the Indonesian island of Bali.

Behind Airbnb's top-earning landlord in London is one in Bali with 504 properties who earned £11.8m ($22.3m) in the space of a year, according to the Daily Mail.

According to the work by analysts at AirDNA, the other top-earning landlords were based in Cape Town, Paris, Havana, Sydney, Barcelona, Madrid and Melbourne.

AirDNA's CEO Scott Shatford told The Telegraph that Airbnb is "no longer community just for individuals renting out their space or properties on their own."

He explained: "We're seeing traditional property management companies operating as many as 1,000 listings.

"These numbers don't show a multimillionaire sitting on a gold mine. These are businesses that have emerged in this new economy, with hundreds of employees, managing other people's second homes."

But a spokesperson for Airbnb the "vast majority" of its hosts are "regular people who share their homes - typically their greatest expense - to boost their income and support their families".

According to the AirDNA data, the highest earnings are for landlords in Bali, where the average income is £31,294 a year ($59,000).

In second-place Tokyo, the average is £27,581 ($52,000).

Third is Barcelona, where the average is £21,807 ($41,000) a year and fourth is Lisbon, where the average is £21,146 ($39,962).

London is seventh, with users earning an average of £15,953 a year ($30,000).

Airbnb said a typical British host earned £3,000 ($5,670) by letting out rooms or homes for three nights a month.

A spokesperson for the website also said the AirDNA data has been "scraped" and therefore ought not to be considered official.

AirDNA said that around the world, 65 per cent of hosts are individuals and 35 per cent are management firms - but stressed the rapid growth of the latter.

But Airbnb said 80 per cent of hosts in the UK are using their "primary home".