Simon Property Group Reports $1.7B in Q1 Revenue as Earnings Surpass Estimates

Mall behemoth Simon Property Group started 2026 strong, remaining profitable with increased revenue and beating Wall Street’s expectations. 

Revenue for the first quarter reached more than $1.7 billion, almost 20 percent more than the same time last year, while earnings per share stood at $1.48, surpassing the forecast by 2 cents. Net income increased to $568 million, marking a nearly 19 percent jump year-over-year. 

Overall occupancy remained steady at 96 percent, just slightly above the 95.9 percent occupancy from the same time last year.  Base minimum rent increased by 5.2 percent from a year prior to $61.99 per square foot, while sales per square foot jumped by 11.8 percent to $819 per square foot. 

“We’re really seeing broad-based demand across all our centers, not just sort of the top fortress centers,” CEO Eli Simon said during a Monday evening earnings call. “We’re making our centers better. We’re making them more relevant, particularly to the Gen Z customer.”

The company is currently spending just over $1 billion to reposition 29 centers into mixed-use properties. 

Lower-end retailers are taking note. They’re “now wanting to talk about their 2027, 2028 and 2029 expirations, which historically might have been more of a luxury tenant phenomenon,” Simon added. “They’re thinking in terms of decades, not quarter to quarter.”

The Indianapolis-based investment trust raised its outlook for its real estate funds from operations from $13.10 to $13.25 per diluted share. The firm will also boost its dividend to $2.25 per share, marking a 7.1 percent year-over-year increase. 

Simon closed out the quarter with about $8.7 billion of liquidity, including $1.2 billion in cash and $7.5 billion in available credit. It also completed 10 secured loan transactions during the first quarter, totaling about $2.3 billion, with a weighted average interest rate of 5.25 percent. 

The call marked Eli Simon’s first earnings call as CEO since his father, David Simon, died in March at the age of 64 after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. The patriarch had held the post for more than three decades. 

Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.