Melbourne Airbnb hosts are making up to $150,000 each year on the platform, with hosts in the suburbs pocketing up to $42,000 a year just by listing a spare bedroom.

Figures released this week continue to paint an expanding and lucrative picture of Airbnb for Melbourne property owners, following fears some apartment owners were shunning the private rental market for the fatter profit margins on the site.

Data from analytics website Airdna, a company that tracks the performance of Airbnb rental properties around the world, shows there were up to 15,640 Airbnb listings in Melbourne at the start of February. It was a massive increase on the start of February 2016, when 12,886 were listed.

The Airdna report also highlighted the city's top performing Airbnbs, with those pulling in the most revenue appearing to be fairly humble listings.

Of Melbourne's top performing listings, Fitzroy backpacker hostel The Nunnery is estimated to make the greatest annual revenue in the city, pulling in about $154,160, according to Airdna. The backpackers guesthouse accommodates up 21 guests at a time and is listed at $1,399 per night.

A studio apartment in Richmond makes about $47,181 a year, while hosts renting out a bedroom in Oakleigh, 15 km south-east of the CBD, are bagging an estimated $43,000 annually. The room, which is 25 minutes to the CBD via train, is currently listed for $195 per night.

Airdna calculates estimated annual revenue by adding up all the reservations in the last twelve months. It calculates the advertised daily rate of each unique reservation and then adds the cleaning fee.

Many of the top listings were found clustered around Southern Cross Station, mirroring analysis by University of Melbourne researchers Andy Krause and Gideon Aschwanden.

While there is no official indication of the effect Airbnb is having on Melbourne's private rental market, the researchers are exploring the impact the accommodation website is having.