/

|

Equity Residential kicked off the apartment REIT earnings season. And, for the second straight quarter, the Chicago-based firm beat analysts’ expectations. EQR’s outperformance in the second quarter was driven by less-than-expected same-store expenses of 2.7%. Improvements in blended rent of 2.5% year over year, occupancy of 40 basis points and bad debt of 20 bps also helped.