Biggest CapEx Real Estate Stocks
Top real estate companies ranked by capital expenditures, latest annual filings.
What Capital Expenditures Mean for Real Estate Companies
Capital expenditures in real estate split into distinct categories that carry different economic meanings. Maintenance capex preserves the existing portfolio. Development and acquisition spending expand it, either through ground-up construction or the purchase of operating assets. Tenant improvements, funded as leases turn, support rent growth. Reading capex as a single number obscures these categories, each of which tells a different story about the business.
Why It Matters Less in Real Estate
Development capex can produce attractive returns when delivered into strong markets at cycle-appropriate costs, while maintenance capex simply preserves existing cash flow. Still, development carries meaningful execution risk: cost overruns, delayed leasing, and softening market conditions can compress projected yields. AFFO, which subtracts recurring capex from FFO, is the cleaner measure of distributable cash because it reflects the ongoing investment required to keep the portfolio earning.
What to Read Alongside
Read capex alongside Free Cash Flow for the cash remaining after recurring investment, Net Income noting that GAAP profit is depressed by non-cash depreciation, and Long-term Debt because REITs are structurally debt-heavy vehicles.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EQIX | Equinix, Inc. | Real Estate | $4.31B | $100.25B |
| 2 | VTR | Ventas, Inc. | Real Estate | $2.93B | $46.93B |
| 3 | IRM | Iron Mountain Incorporated | Real Estate | $2.27B | $31.73B |
| 4 | AMT | American Tower Corporation | Real Estate | $1.68B | $87.55B |
| 5 | WELL | Welltower Inc. | Real Estate | $1.05B | $179.74B |
| 6 | SPG | Simon Property Group, Inc. | Real Estate | $934.35M | $73.66B |
| 7 | DOC | Healthpeak Properties, Inc. | Real Estate | $894.95M | $13.97B |
| 8 | STWD | Starwood Property Trust, Inc. | Real Estate | $878.49M | $4.46B |
| 9 | LINE | Lineage, Inc. | Real Estate | $747.00M | $8.91B |
| 10 | COLD | Americold Realty Trust, Inc. | Real Estate | $576.85M | $4.57B |
| 11 | FRMI | Fermi Inc. | Real Estate | $569.30M | $1.01B |
| 12 | EXR | Extra Space Storage Inc. | Real Estate | $561.72M | $33.23B |
| 13 | SUI | Sun Communities, Inc. | Real Estate | $457.00M | $14.36B |
| 14 | CBRE | CBRE Group, Inc. | Real Estate | $366.00M | $39.05B |
| 15 | MAA | Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. | Real Estate | $360.24M | $13.80B |
| 16 | RHP | Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. | Real Estate | $358.24M | $9.11B |
| 17 | REXR | Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. | Real Estate | $333.42M | $8.02B |
| 18 | CSGP | CoStar Group, Inc. | Real Estate | $307.00M | $12.29B |
| 19 | PK | Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. | Real Estate | $296.00M | $3.18B |
| 20 | NHI | National Health Investors, Inc. | Real Estate | $294.03M | $3.50B |
| 21 | HST | Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. | Real Estate | $282.00M | $16.87B |
| 22 | CUZ | Cousins Properties Incorporated | Real Estate | $267.23M | $4.87B |
| 23 | UDR | UDR, Inc. | Real Estate | $252.86M | $11.59B |
| 24 | ELS | Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. | Real Estate | $237.09M | $12.26B |
| 25 | SVC | Service Properties Trust | Real Estate | $224.83M | $675.03M |
| 26 | SBAC | SBA Communications Corporation | Real Estate | $224.82M | $19.78B |
| 27 | IHS | IHS Holding Limited | Real Estate | $217.50M | $2.85B |
| 28 | BXP | BXP, Inc. | Real Estate | $216.69M | $10.38B |
| 29 | STAG | STAG Industrial, Inc. | Real Estate | $204.52M | $7.06B |
| 30 | ESRT | Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. | Real Estate | $198.50M | $893.73M |
| 31 | DEI | Douglas Emmett, Inc. | Real Estate | $192.40M | $1.70B |
| 32 | CCI | Crown Castle Inc. | Real Estate | $182.00M | $37.70B |
| 33 | LAMR | Lamar Advertising Company | Real Estate | $180.80M | $15.85B |
| 34 | KRG | Kite Realty Group Trust | Real Estate | $152.00M | $5.04B |
| 35 | EPR | EPR Properties | Real Estate | $151.75M | $4.56B |
| 36 | DHC | Diversified Healthcare Trust | Real Estate | $146.82M | $1.70B |
| 37 | O | Realty Income Corporation | Real Estate | $131.80M | $56.15B |
| 38 | FSV | FirstService Corporation | Real Estate | $127.70M | $6.42B |
| 39 | RLJ | RLJ Lodging Trust | Real Estate | $126.40M | $1.91B |
| 40 | KRC | Kilroy Realty Corporation | Real Estate | $116.03M | $4.17B |
| 41 | SHO | Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. | Real Estate | $103.05M | $2.33B |
| 42 | UE | Urban Edge Properties | Real Estate | $100.92M | $2.58B |
| 43 | PEB | Pebblebrook Hotel Trust | Real Estate | $97.40M | $2.36B |
| 44 | OUT | OUTFRONT Media Inc. | Real Estate | $88.80M | $5.43B |
| 45 | APLE | Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. | Real Estate | $88.20M | $4.46B |
| 46 | BEKE | KE Holdings Inc. | Real Estate | $86.90M | $20.66B |
| 47 | XHR | Xenia Hotels & Resorts, Inc. | Real Estate | $86.61M | $1.97B |
| 48 | DRH | DiamondRock Hospitality Company | Real Estate | $81.56M | $2.87B |
| 49 | OHI | Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. | Real Estate | $80.87M | $14.67B |
| 50 | CIGI | Colliers International Group Inc. | Real Estate | $78.70M | $4.85B |
| 51 | EGP | EastGroup Properties, Inc. | Real Estate | $75.83M | $10.42B |
| 52 | INN | Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. | Real Estate | $75.48M | $754.97M |
| 53 | AAT | American Assets Trust, Inc. | Real Estate | $72.25M | $1.32B |
| 54 | WY | Weyerhaeuser Company | Real Estate | $51.00M | $15.11B |
| 55 | CWK | Cushman & Wakefield Limited | Real Estate | $47.40M | $3.28B |
| 56 | HHH | Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. | Real Estate | $44.76M | $4.64B |
| 57 | IVT | InvenTrust Properties Corp. | Real Estate | $44.52M | $2.46B |
| 58 | AMH | American Homes 4 Rent | Real Estate | $40.65M | $11.73B |
| 59 | CSR | Centerspace | Real Estate | $34.16M | $962.67M |
| 60 | BNL | Broadstone Net Lease, Inc. | Real Estate | $29.71M | $3.36B |
| 61 | NMRK | Newmark Group, Inc. | Real Estate | $29.37M | $2.16B |
| 62 | CCS | Century Communities, Inc. | Real Estate | $28.77M | $1.56B |
| 63 | INVH | Invitation Homes Inc. | Real Estate | $28.33M | $15.61B |
| 64 | CDP | COPT Defense Properties | Real Estate | $21.07M | $3.73B |
| 65 | KIM | Kimco Realty Corporation | Real Estate | $18.40M | $16.96B |
| 66 | COMP | Compass, Inc. | Real Estate | $13.40M | $7.84B |
| 67 | OPEN | Opendoor Technologies Inc. | Real Estate | $12.00M | $1.30B |
| 68 | AGNT | AGNT, Inc | Real Estate | $9.57M | $510.61M |
| 69 | SKYH | Sky Harbour Group Corporation | Real Estate | $9.51M | $786.71M |
| 70 | LADR | Ladder Capital Corp | Real Estate | $8.34M | $1.12B |
| 71 | ADAM | Adamas Trust, Inc. | Real Estate | $8.15M | $513.83M |
| 72 | MMI | Marcus & Millichap, Inc. | Real Estate | $7.87M | $1.05B |
| 73 | LTC | LTC Properties, Inc. | Real Estate | $7.27M | $2.52B |
| 74 | PSTL | Postal Realty Trust, Inc. | Real Estate | $6.94M | $743.11M |
| 75 | JOE | The St. Joe Company | Real Estate | $4.06M | $3.96B |
| 76 | FOR | Forestar Group Inc. | Real Estate | $2.20M | $1.21B |
| 77 | HBNB | Hotel101 Global Holdings Corp. | Real Estate | $923,019 | $1.06B |
| 78 | VTMX | Corporación Inmobiliaria Vesta, S.A.B. de C.V. | Real Estate | $837,371 | $3.49B |
| 79 | GTY | Getty Realty Corp. | Real Estate | $429,000 | $1.92B |
| 80 | FPH | Five Point Holdings, LLC | Real Estate | $217,000 | $630.55M |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by capital expenditures as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $500 million in market cap or above. Below that, one mis-stated figure outranks the companies the list is about.
- Currency check: A company whose annual revenue runs above 15 times its market cap is left out, because at that gap the two figures are not in the same currency.
- Currency check: A company whose balance sheet runs above 150 times its market cap is left out for the same reason.
- Market cap: stated at each company's latest close, which is newer than the annual figure ranked here.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between maintenance and development capex in real estate?
Maintenance capex, often called recurring capex, funds the ongoing investment required to keep the existing portfolio leased and producing at current rent levels, including building systems, roofs, common area renovations, and tenant improvements for lease renewals. Development capex funds ground-up construction of new assets, and acquisition capital funds the purchase of existing operating properties. Maintenance capex sustains current income; development and acquisition capex grow the asset base. The two produce very different returns and carry different risk profiles.
Why is AFFO often preferred over FFO in REIT analysis?
Funds from operations adds depreciation back to net income and adjusts for property-sale gains, but it does not subtract the recurring capex needed to maintain the portfolio. Adjusted funds from operations takes the further step of deducting this recurring investment, giving a cleaner measure of the cash actually available to fund distributions. Since recurring capex is a real and ongoing cost of operating real estate, AFFO typically gives a more honest view of distributable cash and dividend coverage than FFO alone, particularly in older portfolios where maintenance needs run higher.
How does development risk affect reported capex in REITs?
Development projects tie up capital for years before producing income, and projected yields depend on construction cost control, timely lease-up, and stable market rents through delivery. Cost overruns, construction delays, and rent softening can meaningfully compress returns below initial underwriting. REITs active in development disclose pipelines that show committed capital and expected stabilization dates, and investors can compare actual delivered yields to initial projections to assess management's track record. Heavy development capex in a cooling market can absorb cash for years before producing offsetting income.