At a glance
- For private buyers and lenders underwriting apartments in supply-heavy markets, concessions running as long as two months are the term to price: free rent is a cash cost carried before any rent growth arrives.
- Jessett called concessions "incredibly sticky" and said they ranged from three weeks in West Palm Beach, Florida, to two months in Austin, Texas, as merchant builders kept offering steep discounts.
- July and August were strong enough that Camden expected other owners to start dialing back concessions, Jessett said.
Camden Property Trust cut its 2026 same-store revenue growth guidance midpoint by 50 basis points to 0%, executives said, after a weaker-than-expected September and an expected deeper fourth-quarter seasonal decline.
September surprised the company. "It was a greater decline in traffic than we had expected," chief executive Alex Jessett said on the third-quarter earnings call. "And when we had the decline in traffic, obviously, you have to reduce your prices if you're trying to increase traffic."
For private buyers and lenders underwriting apartments in supply-heavy markets, concessions running as long as two months are the term to price: free rent is a cash cost carried before any rent growth arrives.
Jessett called concessions "incredibly sticky" and said they ranged from three weeks in West Palm Beach, Florida, to two months in Austin, Texas, as merchant builders kept offering steep discounts.
July and August were strong enough that Camden expected other owners to start dialing back concessions, Jessett said. "They absolutely did not do it," he said.
New leases stayed negative, at -2% year over year in the third quarter versus -3.3% in the second, according to the earnings release. Renewals rose 3.6% from 2.8%, and the blended rate turned positive at 1% from -0.2%.
Camden expects same-store year-over-year expense growth of 1.75%, 75 basis points better than its prior midpoint and 125 basis points better than its beginning-of-year guidance, chief financial officer Ben Fraker said.
Jessett said Camden was the only S&P 500 multifamily REIT to post sequential improvement in both new lease and blended lease rates in each quarter this year, and the only one to accelerate from the second quarter to the third.
The REIT finalized its California sale and multiple acquisitions during the quarter, while the interest rate environment forced it to cancel other property and land acquisitions.
Camden reported positive signs heading into the fourth quarter, though high-concession markets weighed on results.
They absolutely did not do it.Alex Jessett, chief executive of Camden Property Trust
All three lease-rate measures improved in the third quarter
Year-over-year change in lease rates, Q2 vs Q3
Show as table
| Item | Q2 | Q3 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| New leases | −3.3% | −2% | +1.3% |
| Renewals | 2.8% | 3.6% | +0.8% |
| Blended | −0.2% | 1% | +1.2% |
Reported by the Sectors desk from Multifamily Dive. Published . Corrections