Lifull H1 FY2026: Operating Profit Up 28% on AI Push and Kenbiya Surge

Lifull's operating profit climbed 28.5% across the first half of FY2026, the Tokyo-listed real estate portal operator said, as its core HOME'S Services business rolled into its tenth consecutive quarter of growth. The reporting period also saw Kenbiya, the firm's investment property platform, take the top spot in Japan by listing count.

Highlights include:

• Revenue of ¥14.90 billion for H1, up 4.3% year on year
• Operating profit of ¥2.34 billion, up 28.5% year on year
• Operating margin expanded to 15.7%, from 12.8% in the prior-year H1
• HOME'S Services revenue up 4.2% to ¥13.58 billion, with segment profit up 19.1% to ¥2.59 billion
• ARPA reached ¥33,958 per agent per month on a six-month average basis, up 3.0% year on year
• Client network grew 1.2% to a record 66,677 agents
• Kenbiya investment property listings passed 90,000, taking the No.1 ranking in Japan

Growth came primarily from HOME'S Services, Lifull's core domestic real estate portal, which posted its tenth consecutive quarter of revenue expansion. Segment revenue rose 4.2% to ¥13.58 billion while segment profit jumped 19.1% to ¥2.59 billion, lifting the segment operating margin to 19.1% from 16.7% a year earlier. Lifull said the improvement reflected continued site enhancements and intensified sales activity during Japan's peak moving season.

Client network and ARPA both ticked higher across the half year, supported by growth in the for-sale property market. ARPA reached ¥33,958 per agent per month on the six-month average, up 3.0% year on year, while the client network grew 1.2% to a record 66,677. The result represents a second consecutive year of dual-metric gains and a third straight year of ARPA expansion.

Kenbiya, Lifull's investment property platform acquired in July 2020 and integrated with HOME'S in 2023, has claimed the top spot in Japan for investment property listings, surpassing 90,000 active listings as of April 2026. Lifull cited a Tokyo Shoko Research ranking from February 2026 as the source. The platform's listing base is now 2.25 times its size at acquisition, giving Lifull a clear lead in a sector where competitors have struggled to scale.

Lifull continued its AI investment push. The company launched promotional campaigns for its conversational assistant AI Homes-kun during the quarter and introduced a Voice AI Agent at Sumai no Madoguchi, its home-search consultation service. Internally, 96% of employees now use generative AI in daily work, with the company crediting roughly 50,000 hours of saved operational time across the April to September 2025 window.

Headline net profit fell 58.5% year on year to ¥1.54 billion, though the comparison is distorted by a prior-year one-off gain of approximately ¥2.9 billion from the Overseas-segment divestment recorded in the prior H1. Lifull said normalised profit from continuing operations rose roughly 109% year on year on a like-for-like basis. The half year also saw Lifull's shareholder count climb 21.1% to 20,877 following February's launch of a new shareholder benefit programme valued at ¥30,000 annually, with eligible shareholders growing 2.2 times and average trading volume rising 51.9% since the announcement.

Lifull reiterated its full-year guidance of ¥29.7 billion in revenue and ¥3.0 billion in operating profit. H1 represents 50.2% progress on revenue and 78.1% of the operating profit goal, comfortably ahead of schedule and leaving room for the company's planned acceleration in promotional and recruitment investment through the second half.