Piedmont Realty Trust, Inc. PDM recently announced that it has completed around 240,000 square feet of leasing from the beginning of the second quarter through June 1, 2026. Out of this, nearly 60% comprised new tenant leasing. This highlights solid, continued demand for high-quality office spaces.
With around 90% of the new tenant leasing accounting for vacant spaces, the momentum brings year-to-date leasing volume to around 670,000 square feet. This outlines heightened tour and proposal activity at levels above Piedmont’s historical averages, with 900,000 square feet of leases in the almost final stages of execution during the second quarter.
The robust demand scenario has culminated in rental rate growth across Piedmont’s portfolio. In the first quarter of 2026, PDM executed more than 430,000 square feet of leasing, with two-thirds relating to new tenancy and cash leasing spreads exceeding 11%.
Piedmont Realty Trust's strong leasing momentum, growing new-tenant activity and healthy rental rate gains reflect the resilience of demand for premium office space. With a substantial pipeline of leases nearing execution and leasing activity running above historical levels, the company appears well-positioned to improve occupancy, strengthen cash flows and drive portfolio performance in the coming quarters. These trends underscore the effectiveness of Piedmont's strategy of focusing on high-quality office assets in key markets.
Over the past three months, shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) office REIT have gained 11.6% compared with the industry’s growth of 1.7%.
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Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are W.P. Carey WPC and Lamar Advertising LAMR, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WPC’s 2026 FFO per share has been moved northward marginally over the past two months to $5.26.
The consensus estimate for LAMR’s 2026 FFO per share has been revised upward by 2.2% to $8.81 over the past month.
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Lamar Advertising Company (LAMR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).