Equity Residential (EQR), a Chicago-based apartment REIT, reported strong first-quarter results after the markets closed on Tuesday. The company saw a 194.7% increase in EPS, 10.4% increase in FFO per share and 13.0% increase in normalized FFO per share compared to the same period last year – all of which exceeded expectations for Q1 performance. Additionally, same store revenue increased by an impressive 9.2%.
Mark J Parrell, EQR’s President and CEO commented that “We had a very good first quarter… Our business continues to benefit from durable employment within our affluent renter demographic as well as limited competition from both new apartment supply and single-family home ownership.” In light of these positive results EQR raised its annual common share dividend by 6%, demonstrating their confidence in future prospects for the business going forward..
