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Feb 4 (Reuters) - Essex Property Trust ESS.N posted fourth-quarter profit and core funds from operations below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, hurt by sluggish growth in Northern California and Seattle.

The San Mateo, California-based real estate investment trust owns and manages over 62,000 apartment homes in the U.S. West coast.

During the fourth quarter, revenue from Northern California, which comprised over 40% of the REIT's business during 2025, edged up only 0.6% sequentially, while San Francisco, a key market in the region, declined 1.2%.

In the Seattle Metro area, revenue fell 0.8% compared with the third quarter.

For the quarter ended December 31, it reported core FFO of $3.98 per share, compared with expectations of $3.99.

The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.25 per share, compared with $4 apiece a year earlier, which it attributed to gains related to land sales and co-investment in the prior year.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of $1.48 per share.

The company sees 2026 adjusted funds from operations between $15.69 and $16.19 per share, the midpoint of which is below analysts' expectations of $16.23 as per data compiled by LSEG.

(Reporting by Megavarshini G. Somasundaram and Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

((Megavarshini.SomasundaramGnanasundari@thomsonreuters.com;))