The BREW: Apartment Lease Lightning (It's Electrifying)

Research evidence excerpt

The BREW: Apartment Lease Lightning (It's Electrifying)

June 7, 2026 | 21:19 ET~

US Real Estate

The BREW: Apartment Lease Lightning (It's US Real Estate

Electrifying) John P. Kim Analyst

JohnP.Kim@bmo.com (212) 885-4115

Juan C. Sanabria AnalystBottom Line:

juan.sanabria@bmo.com (312) 845-4074

Apartment REITs had a strong showing at REITweek, with favorable peak leasing

Ari Klein Analystseason trends, resulting in the group up +4.6% last week. Encouragingly, many

ari.klein@bmo.com (212) 885-4103

multifamily REITs (with the exception of AVB, CPT, EQR) provided May leasing trends

Eric Borden Analystindicating +1.8% QTD. In order to achieve midpoint of '26 guidance, apartment REITs

eric.borden@bmo.com (347) 213-9706

need to deliver +2.2% in 2H26, with coastal REITs better-positioned. We estimate EQR

Robin Haneland Senior Associate(-30bps vs. 1H26), ESS (-20bps), and UDR (-20bps) have the easiest path to achieve

robin.haneland@bmo.com (646) 901-2282

midpoint of 2026 blended guidance. In our previous analysis, ESS needed a +20bps

Regan Sweeney, CPA Senior Associateand UDR, +30bps. Conversely, CPT (+200bps), MAA (+200bps), and IRT (+120bps)

regan.sweeney@bmo.com (347) 831-2406

need the highest 2H26 acceleration with only IRT improving from +190bps in our prior

Legal Entity: BMO Capital Markets Corp.

estimate. However, these companies appear to be trending in the right direction, and

CPT indicated new lease rates to turn positive in 3Q26. We increase our multifamily What's Inside

target prices by 5.5% on average.

Global REIT Performance Chart

Key Points YTD 1 Week -10.0% -5.0% +0.0% +5.0% +10.0% +15.0% +20.0%

Multifamily cont'd. Additionally, last week ended with a surprisingly strong May labor Global Real Estate -1.0% 7.7%

14.9%report; according to BMO's Chief U.S.