Equity Residential Reports Strong Revenues, Warns About U.S. Economy

Equity Residential (EQR) has begun 2025 on a strong note, even as the larger economy enters a period of uncertainty.  

Equity reported that same-store revenue — a proxy for sales — rose 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024, and that net operating income increased 1.3 percent in the period, as well.  

Moreover, the firm’s occupancy sits at 96.4 percent, up 0.2 percent from the first quarter of 2024, while resident turnover fell to a 7.9 percent, the lowest in Equity’s history, and an indicator that renters across the firm’s portfolio are choosing to stay put. 

“Our first-quarter results exceeded our expectations and we are well positioned for the primary leasing season,” said Mark Parrell, CEO of Equity Residential, during Wednesday’s earnings call. Parrell added demand is strong across all markets, but is contingent on the level of supply within each metro area.  

Equity Residential owns 75,362 apartment units across markets as diverse as Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, as well as Denver, Atlanta, Dallas and Austin.

“Equity Residential will continue to benefit from powerful supply and demand tailwinds that favor the rental housing sector, including the long-term undersupply of rental housing in our markets, the high cost and low inventory of single-family-owned housing, and demographic and social factors that are driving increased rental housing demand,” said Parrell. 

However, Equity’s earnings per share — a proxy for profits — declined by 13 percent in the first quarter, falling from 77 cents in the first quarter of 2024 to 67 cents. This is tied to the recent stock market upheaval, which hasn’t spared firms as powerful as Equity — the REIT’s stock price is down about 2 percent in the last month. That being said, funds from operations, or cash flow, increased by about 8 percent during the quarter. 

“Like most market participants, we see a higher than usual level of uncertainty in the forward path of the economy, given recent government actions related to tariffs and other matters,” said  Parrell. “The impact of these actions on the larger economy, and on our business, are hard to currently estimate and will take some time to unfold.”

Michael Manelis, chief operating officer, said during the call that Equity saw leasing strength in New York and Washington, D.C., and that the firm is well positioned to take advantage of the primary leasing season of the spring and summer months. But he did define the current economic period as a time of “heightened uncertainty,” and acknowledged “less certainty in the future job growth projections,” for renters across the U.S. 

However, both Manelis and Parrell emphasized during their remarks that the firm is banking on the ongoing supply crunch to benefit the firm, as Americans across the country turn to rental units to house themselves and their families in a nationwide housing crunch. 

“What is clear is we’re getting even more positives on less impact from future supply, as we expect the current environment to even further reduce the number of apartment starts this year, as capital allocators hesitate to make big outlays in turbulent times,” said Manelis

Manelis said that Equity expects to see “strong stable performance” in the second quarter of 2025 in terms of retention, achieved renewal rate increases, and occupancy. He added that the firm’s blended rate growth will probably fall between 2.8 percent to 3.4 percent in the second quarter, even as the future health of the economy remains ambiguous. 

Parrell pointed to the firm’s nearly 97 percent occupancy rate across its portfolio as the main metric that inspires confidence in why Equity will weather the current and future economic storm, which he noted could be “a very tough recession.” 

“We’re in just such a strong position going into what we think is an opportunity year,” said Parrell. “And if that changes, I still think we’ll have a pretty good year, just because of where we’re starting, and because our residents, frankly, are very employable.”

Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com