Essex Property Trust Inc. ESS recently updated its year-to-date transaction activity, highlighting its strategic portfolio rebalancing efforts for long-term value accretion and future revenue growth.

The company reallocated its investments to newer communities in the Northern California submarkets with potential less supply and higher rental growth. It disposed of non-core assets in Southern California and divested the sale proceeds for the above acquisitions.

Such match-funding efforts indicate the company’s prudent capital-management practices and will relieve pressure from its balance sheet, which is encouraging. These transactions will be net-neutral to the company’s 2025 core funds from operations (FFO) forecast.

Essex Property purchased the following three communities — The Plaza, located in Foster City, CA, and built in 2013 with 307 apartment homes for a contract price of $161.4 million in January 2025; One Hundred Grand, located in Foster City, CA, and built in 2016 with 166 apartment homes for a contract price of $105.3 million in February 2025; and ROEN Menlo Park, located in Menlo Park, CA, and built in 2017 with 146 apartment homes for a contract price of $78.8 million in February 2025.

The company disposed of two communities — Highridge, located in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, and built in 1972 with 255 apartment homes at a contract price of $127 million in February 2025, and Essex Skyline, located in Santa Ana, CA, and built in 2008 with 350 apartment homes at a contract price of $239.6 million in early April 2025.

Final Take on Essex Property

With the above transactions, Essex Property’s portfolio becomes more aligned for future growth through the expansion of its footprint in newer submarkets with less supply, aiding higher revenue yield in the long term.

Essex Property’s substantial exposure to the West Coast market has offered ample scope to enhance its top line. The West Coast is home to several innovation and technology companies that drive job creation and income growth. Moreover, California has key life science clusters and is a major employment driver in San Francisco and San Diego. With layoffs in the tech industry slowing and a return to the office gaining momentum, the West Coast markets are likely to see an increase in renter demand in the near term.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have risen 7.9% over the past three months, outperforming the industry’s growth of 6.7%. Analysts seem positive on this stock, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Essex Property’s 2025 FFO having been revised marginally northward to $15.99 per share over the past month.

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Stocks to Consider

A couple of better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Welltower WELL and Cousins Properties CUZ, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Welltower’s 2025 FFO per share has been moved marginally northward to $4.93 over the past week.

The consensus estimate for Cousins Properties’ 2025 FFO per share has been moved upward by 1.8% to $2.79 over the past month.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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