EastGroup Properties at BofA real estate conference: growth, discipline

On September 16, 2026, EastGroup Properties presented its business strategy at the BofA NY Global Real Estate Conference. The company emphasized its ongoing growth while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital deployment and a cautious balance sheet. In the second quarter of 2025, EastGroup leased 3.9 million square feet, including 1.5 million square feet of development leasing, surpassing its development leasing from the entire previous year.

Occupancy rates reached 96.1% in July and August 2025, exceeding the company's initial projections. About 25% of development leasing in the first half of 2025 came from data center support services, providing a new demand tailwind for the sector. EastGroup's debt-to-EBITDA ratio stood at 3.0 times, the lowest in its sector and on a declining trend. The company maintained a fixed-rate, laddered debt structure, limiting refinancing risk and keeping G&A expense the lowest in the sector.

EastGroup's dividend yield is currently 3.53%, with a 14-year streak of consecutive dividend increases and 49 years of uninterrupted payments. Demand for the company's properties remained steady, underpinned by population growth of 100,000 to 150,000 people annually in its core markets and growth drivers such as e-commerce, advanced manufacturing, and data center support services.

Data center-related tenants accounted for 25% of development leasing in the first half of 2025 and are expected to continue growing, with potential capacity increases of four to five times over the next five years in key markets.