Equity Residential Reports 1Q Earnings Drop

Equity Residential, Chicago, has reported net income of $126.23 million for the first quarter ($0.40 per share), compared with $377.8 million ($1.25 per share) for the first quarter of 2006.The real estate investment trust attributed the decline to higher gains on sale of property in the first quarter of 2006, which it said resulted in $0.82 of the $0.85 differential in earnings per share. Equity Residential's funds from operations (an alternative earnings measure used in the REIT world) were $0.55 per share for the first quarter, compared with $0.56 for the first quarter of 2006. David Neithercut, president and chief executive officer of the multifamily REIT, said good job growth and limited new supply in many markets bodes well for the company's performance for the rest of the year. "As we head into our primary leasing season, however, we have recently begun to see certain markets experiencing somewhat slower sequential rental rate growth than we had hoped," he added. Equity Residential can be found online at http://www.equityapartments.com.