Equity Residential is one of the largest U.S. publicly-traded owners and operators of high quality rental apartment properties, with a primary concentration in the major coastal markets of Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Southern California (including Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego), San Francisco and Seattle, diversified by a targeted presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Austin. The Company's business benefits from elevated single family home ownership costs which makes renting more attractive, positive household formation trends, residents choosing a longer-term rental lifestyle for greater flexibility in living arrangements and the overall deficit in housing across the country, especially in the areas in which we are investing. The Company believes its markets are knowledge centers of the U.S. economy that draw employers and their talented affluent workers that drive economic growth in the United States.

The Company faces competition for residents from other existing or new multifamily properties, condominiums, single family homes and other living arrangements, whether owned or rental, that may attract residents from its properties or prospective residents that would otherwise choose to live with the Company. The Company also faces significant competition for the acquisition and development of apartment communities, potentially competing with other housing providers that have greater resources than the Company and whose managers have more experience than the Company's managers. The Company believes it has created an industry-leading operating platform and balance sheet to run its properties, with employees focused on delivering remarkable customer service to residents so they will stay longer, be willing to pay higher rent for a great experience and will tell others about how much they love living in an Equity Residential property.

The Company generates revenue primarily through the ownership and operation of high quality rental apartment properties. The Company's residential apartment leases are generally for twelve months or less. The Company also generates revenue from Non-Residential space, which includes retail and public parking garage operations at its properties, primarily serving as an additional amenity for residents and neighbors. The Company utilizes technology and other innovative methods of engagement with its residents to foster relationships and community, improve the resident experience and operate its business more efficiently, pairing that with disciplined balance sheet management that enhances returns and value creation while maintaining flexibility to take advantage of future opportunities.

The Company's portfolio as of December 31, 2025 consisted of 312 ¹ properties located in 10 states and the District of Columbia consisting of 85,190 ² apartment units. The properties are summarized by building type as 99 ³ garden properties with 27,046 ⁴ apartment units and 213 ⁵ mid/high-rise properties with 58,144 ⁶ apartment units. By ownership type, the Company owned 297 ⁷ wholly owned properties with 81,518 ⁸ apartment units, 12 ⁹ partially owned consolidated properties with 2,656 ¹⁰ apartment units, and 3 ¹¹ partially owned unconsolidated properties with 1,016 ¹² apartment units. The Company's same store Physical Occupancy for the year ended December 31, 2025 was 96.4% ¹³ and its total portfolio-wide Physical Occupancy was 95.6% ¹⁴.

The Company's Established Markets, which include Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, and Seattle, comprised 258 ¹⁵ properties and 69,120 ¹⁶ apartment units, representing 89.3% ¹⁷ of Stabilized Budgeted NOI with an average rental rate of $3,342 ¹⁸. The Expansion Markets, which include Atlanta, Denver, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Austin, comprised 54 ¹⁹ properties and 16,070 ²⁰ apartment units, representing 10.7% ²¹ of Stabilized Budgeted NOI with an average rental rate of $2,002 ²². The overall average rental rate across all properties was $3,092 ²³.

During the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company acquired 9 ²⁴ consolidated rental properties with 2,439 ²⁵ apartment units for a purchase price of $636,843,000 ²⁶ at an acquisition cap rate of 5.1% ²⁷, and acquired consolidated land parcels for $22,847,000 ²⁸. The Company disposed of 11 ²⁹ consolidated rental properties with 2,468 ³⁰ apartment units for a sales price of $1,122,061,000 ³¹ at a disposition yield of (5.4)% ³², and disposed of consolidated land parcels for $4,300,000 ³³ and unconsolidated land parcels for $8,813,000 ³⁴. The Company completed construction on two wholly owned consolidated apartment properties during 2025, located in the San Francisco and Denver markets, consisting of an aggregate of 495 ³⁵ apartment units totaling approximately $237,800,000 ³⁶ of development costs. The Company also acquired its joint venture partners' interests in three previously unconsolidated properties, consisting of an aggregate of 966 ³⁷ apartment units, for approximately $16,400,000 ³⁸ in cash and also contributed approximately $151,900,000 ³⁹ for the respective joint ventures to repay the construction loans. The Company repurchased and retired 3,059,922 ⁴⁰ Common Shares during the quarter ended December 31, 2025 at a weighted average price paid per share of $60.91 ⁴¹.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, net income was $1,151,949,000 ⁴² compared to $1,070,975,000 ⁴³ for the year ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $80,974,000 ⁴⁴ or 7.6% ⁴⁵. Total rental income was $3,093,959,000 ⁴⁶ for 2025 compared to $2,980,108,000 ⁴⁷ for 2024, an increase of $113,851,000 ⁴⁸ or 3.8% ⁴⁹. Total NOI was $2,078,801,000 ⁵⁰ for 2025 compared to $2,018,282,000 ⁵¹ for 2024, an increase of $60,519,000 ⁵² or 3.0% ⁵³. Diluted earnings per share/unit for the full year 2025 was $2.94 ⁵⁴ compared to $2.72 ⁵⁵ for the full year 2024.

Development plays an important role in the Company's capital allocation, primarily focused on strategic partnerships and joint ventures with third-party developers, as well as on in-house redevelopment/densification of existing operating properties, located in both Established Markets and Expansion Markets. The Company remains committed to development as a driver of external growth but acknowledges its incremental risk, particularly in higher inflationary cost environments. As of December 31, 2025, the Company had total development projects, both consolidated and unconsolidated, consisting of 2,117 ⁵⁶ apartment units with total budgeted capital costs of $931,235,000 ⁵⁷ and total book value to date of $824,720,000 ⁵⁸.

The Company's multi-pronged investment strategy featuring acquisitions, new stand-alone and expansion developments, densifying developments and accretive renovations of existing properties is focused on optimizing and balancing the portfolio in terms of the markets operated in and between urban and suburban submarkets within those markets. The Company continues to allocate capital in order to optimize performance by balancing current cash flow growth with long-term capital appreciation, believing that having a more balanced portfolio between urban and suburban and between Established Markets and Expansion Markets, while remaining focused on serving a more financially resilient renter, will create the highest returns and lowest return volatility over time.

The Company attempts to balance occupancy and rental rates to maximize revenue while exercising tight cost control to generate the highest possible cash flow generation to shareholders. The Company's focus on operating efficiency and delivery of an exceptional resident living experience has driven strong Physical Occupancy and low Turnover while achieving strong renewal rate growth. The Company uses a standardized purchasing system to control operating expenses and a business intelligence platform and other data analytics that allow team members to quickly identify and address issues and opportunities as well as leverage the data to understand trends and predict outcomes to improve decision making and engagement of residents and employees.

The Company utilizes technology and other innovative methods of engagement with its residents to foster relationships and community, improve the resident experience and operate its business more efficiently. The Company has been and continues to be a leader in deploying and investing in property technology to serve customers better and operate more efficiently, with a history as a first mover in such important areas as online leasing. The Company's structured approach focuses on using data to drive decision making, piloting promising technologies and standardizing efficiency procedures across the portfolio, including self-guided tours, artificial intelligence responses to customer inquiries and enhanced service and maintenance management.

The Company's Board of Trustees reauthorized and replenished the share repurchase program in March 2025, giving the Company the authority to repurchase up to 13.0 million ⁵⁹ Common Shares. Following additional repurchases during 2025, the Company's Board of Trustees replenished the share repurchase program again on December 11, 2025, giving the Company the authority to repurchase up to 13.0 million ⁶⁰ Common Shares. The Company's share repurchase program does not have an expiration date and may be suspended or discontinued at any time and does not obligate the Company to make any repurchases of its Common Shares.

The Company's properties are primarily concentrated in the major coastal markets of Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Southern California, San Francisco and Seattle, diversified by a targeted presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Austin. If one or more of these markets is unfavorably impacted by specific geopolitical and/or economic conditions, local real estate conditions, increases in social unrest, increases in real estate and other taxes, reduced quality of life, deterioration of local or state government health, rent control or rent stabilization laws, other similar regulations, or localized environmental and climate issues, the impact of such conditions may have a more negative impact on results of operations than if properties were more geographically diverse.

Substantial inflationary pressures can adversely affect the Company by disproportionately increasing the costs of land, materials, labor and other costs needed to operate its business. In a highly inflationary environment, the Company may not be able to raise rental rates at or above the rate of inflation, which could reduce profit margins. Interest rate increases enacted to combat inflation have caused market disruption and could continue to prevent the Company from acquiring or disposing of assets on favorable terms or at all. Rising interest rates increased and may continue to increase the Company's interest expense and the costs of refinancing existing debt, and higher interest rates also increased and could continue to increase capitalization rates, which may lead to reduced valuations of the Company's assets.

Management's message emphasizes that the Company is committed to creating communities where people thrive, and that demand to live in its apartment communities remains healthy with strong long-term prospects for the business. Management states that the Company's business benefits from elevated single family home ownership costs which makes renting more attractive, positive household formation trends, residents choosing a longer-term rental lifestyle for greater flexibility in living arrangements and the overall deficit in housing across the country, especially in the areas in which the Company is investing. The strategic priorities emphasized for the period ahead include optimizing the portfolio by balancing risk and maximizing returns through a multi-pronged investment strategy featuring acquisitions, new stand-alone and expansion developments, densifying developments and accretive renovations of existing properties, while maintaining an industry-leading operating platform and disciplined balance sheet management that enhances returns and value creation while maintaining flexibility to take advantage of future opportunities.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, total rental income was $3,093,959,000 ⁶² compared to $2,980,108,000 ⁶³ for the year ended December 31, 2024. Net income was $1,151,949,000 ⁶⁴ for 2025 compared to $1,070,975,000 ⁶⁵ for 2024. Diluted earnings per share/unit was $2.94 ⁶⁶ for 2025 compared to $2.72 ⁶⁷ for 2024. Total NOI was $2,078,801,000 ⁶⁸ for 2025 compared to $2,018,282,000 ⁶⁹ for 2024. Depreciation expense was $1,010,400,000 ⁷⁰ for 2025 compared to $952,191,000 ⁷¹ for 2024. Interest expense incurred, net was $306,798,000 ⁷² for 2025 compared to $285,735,000 ⁷³ for 2024. Net gain on sales of real estate properties was $626,388,000 ⁷⁴ for 2025 compared to $546,797,000 ⁷⁵ for 2024. The Company's same store rental income was $2,821,804,000 ⁷⁶ for 2025 compared to $2,749,354,000 ⁷⁷ for 2024, an increase of 2.6% ⁷⁸.

The geographic concentration of the Company's properties in major coastal markets and a targeted presence in a few expansion markets exposes it to localized economic, political, and regulatory conditions, including rent control and rent stabilization laws, which could have a more negative impact on results of operations than if properties were more geographically diverse. Rising interest rates increase interest expense and the costs of refinancing existing debt, and higher capitalization rates may lead to reduced valuations of the Company's assets. The Company is subject to risks associated with its joint ventures, including the possibility that partners might refuse or be financially unable to make capital contributions when due, and these projects generally use mortgage debt at a higher leverage level and potentially higher cost. The Company's failure to qualify as a REIT would subject it to U.S. federal income tax at regular corporate rates and would have a significant negative impact on the value of its securities, as the Company is required to distribute to security holders at least 90% ⁶¹ of its REIT taxable income excluding net capital gains.