Mitsubishi Estate Co. said Thursday that full-year earnings rose for the first time in three years as profit margins at its residential business improved and office rents recovered.

Net income gained 41 percent to ¥64.3 billion for the year ended March 31, the company said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Sales rose 16 percent to ¥1.1 trillion.

Developers are benefiting from a recovery in commercial property rents. Monthly average rents for grade-A office buildings in Tokyo's central business districts rose to ¥25,003 per "tsubo," the highest level since third quarter 2012, according to a report by DTZ Research. A tsubo, a standard measure of property area, is 3.3 sq. meters.

Mitsubishi Estate's rents for office, retail space and warehouses on average rose for two consecutive quarters in the period ended March 31, the company said on its website.

Shares in Japan's biggest developer by market value reversed an earlier advance after the company forecast profit for the year ending March 2015 will drop 6.7 percent to ¥60 billion. The outlook compares with the ¥63.8 billion mean estimate of 19 analysts.

Sales for the year will rise 0.3 percent to ¥1.1 trillion, said the owner of about 30 buildings in Tokyo's Marunouchi neighborhood, Japan's most expensive business district.

Residential profit surged to ¥27.8 billion in the year ended March 31, according to the statement. Operating profit for the developer's office building business rose 0.4 percent to ¥108.2 billion last fiscal year, it said.