SPG Stock: Simon Property Group Dividend vs FFO, Malls and Debt (2026)

The $2.25 dividend against Real Estate FFO, FFO and FAD

Simon reports three per-share earnings measures that move differently. Net income was $1.49 a share in Q2 2026 against $1.70 a year earlier, and the dividend is above it, which is normal for a REIT with $459.9 million of quarterly depreciation. FFO (funds from operations) was $3.12 against $3.15, a 1.0% fall, because the 2025 quarter included a non-cash after-tax gain of $0.21 a share from investment activity (the 10-Q ties it to the Catalyst restructuring). Real Estate FFO strips out the company's other platform investments, gains and losses on equity interests and mark-to-market on a Klépierre-linked derivative, and is the figure the company guides on: $3.29 against $3.05, up 7.9%. The table sets the dividend against each.

The cushion did not move, because the dividend and the FFO are both growing about 5% to 8%. The dividend was $8.10 in 2024, $8.55 in 2025 (up 5.6%, our arithmetic) and has been $2.20 then $2.25 in 2026. The Q3 dividend is $0.10, or 4.7%, above the $2.15 of Q3 2025, and the second-quarter dividend was 7.1% above the year before, according to the Q1 release. The 10-Q is plain that the board decides: “In order to maintain its status as a REIT, Simon must pay a minimum amount of dividends.” It adds that future dividends are set “in its sole discretion,” based on cash available, covenants and the REIT minimum.

Cash is a tighter test than Real Estate FFO. Funds available for distribution (FAD) takes FFO, removes non-cash items such as straight-line rent and then subtracts tenant allowances and recurring capital spending. It was $1,099.1 million in Q2 and $2,158.4 million in the half, and on 380.4 million weighted shares and units that is $5.67 per share (our arithmetic), so the $4.45 dividend was 78.4% of it. The cash flow statement agrees: operating cash flow was $2,028.9 million and distributions of capital from unconsolidated entities $245.2 million, $2,274.1 million together, against $1,694.3 million of distributions to common holders and limited partners, 74.5% (our arithmetic). Over the same six months Simon spent $445.3 million on net capital expenditures, $336.0 million on stock buybacks and $51.9 million redeeming units. Those uses are funded by what was left of the cash flow plus debt: net debt proceeds were $504.4 million, according to the 10-Q.

What the cover does not tell you. The 10-Q and release give no payout target. Real Estate FFO also excludes losses that are real money: other platform investments, net of tax, reduced the gap between FFO and Real Estate FFO by $117.8 million in the first half of 2026 against $47.6 million a year earlier, and first-half NOI from those investments was minus $52.3 million. The accelerated stock compensation of $40.0 million booked in Q1 ($0.10 a share) is in FFO, and $8.3 million of it ($0.02) is in Real Estate FFO. These do not change the dividend cover much, but they explain why FFO per share ($6.03) trails Real Estate FFO per share ($6.46) by $0.43.

What the guidance says about the second half

Real Estate FFO per share has grown 7.5% in the first half of 2026. The guidance does not carry that rate forward. The table shows each update and what it leaves for the second half.

At the midpoint, the full-year guide is 4.1% above 2025's $12.73 (our arithmetic), but with 7.5% already delivered in the first half, the second half would grow only 0.4% to 1.9%. Q3 2025 Real Estate FFO was $3.22 and Q4 2025 was $3.49, which is the base the next two quarters are measured against. The company's own wording for Q2 is that Real Estate FFO grew “supported by consistent broad-based leasing demand, accelerated traffic increases, strong retailer sales growth, and the contribution from acquisitions completed over the past year.” The last phrase matters: the Taubman Realty Group (TRG) consolidation began on October 31, 2025, so from Q4 2026 the acquisition no longer adds a year-over-year comparison. The filings do not break out the effect, and we do not size it. A Q3 print below the $3.22 base would be news; one a few cents above it would be consistent with the guidance.

Malls, Premium Outlets and The Mills: occupancy and rent by segment

Simon does not publish a leasing spread (the percentage change from the expiring rent to the new rent on the same space) in the 10-K, 10-Q or supplemental that we read. It publishes ending occupancy and average base minimum rent per square foot for each segment, and the average rent on the new leases it signed. The first table is the segment data.

Rent per foot is 9.9% above where it was at the end of 2023 for malls and outlets (our arithmetic: $62.42 against $56.82) and 16.2% above for The Mills ($42.28 against $36.38), while occupancy has barely moved. For U.S. malls and outlets the average rent was $60.14 at consolidated properties and $68.95 at the joint-venture ones at June 30, 2026, up 5.8% and 7.4%. The Mills are the lower-rent, fuller segment, 98.8% occupied against 96.0%, and their rent is rising faster. Both segments are measured on in-place rent for qualifying tenants: ending occupancy excludes mall anchors, majors, freestanding stores and outlots for malls and outlets, and is calculated on all owned space for The Mills (footnotes in the supplemental).

The rent data includes acquisitions. The 10-Q says acquired properties are included “beginning in the year of acquisition.” The U.S. mall and outlet pool was 162 properties and 136.1 million square feet at June 30, 2025 and 175 properties and 149.0 million at June 30, 2026, and The Mills pool went from 14 to 16 properties (21.4 to 24.1 million square feet). So part of the change in average rent is mix, because TRG's malls entered the data. Simon does not separate it.

New-lease rent is where the growth shows. New leases in the first half of 2026 started at $78.58 a square foot, 16.7% above the $67.36 of the first half of 2025 and 25.9% above the $62.42 average in place (both our arithmetic; different leases in different centers, so not a spread). Landlord allowances on those leases fell to $53.67 from $60.79, which is 68% of the first-year rent (our arithmetic) against 90% a year earlier. Retailer sales were $838 per square foot on a trailing 12-month basis against $736, up 13.9%, which is the company's explanation for the demand. It is also a number the company reports itself: sales are those the tenants have reported, not audited. Domestic property NOI rose 8.5% in Q2.

Who pays the rent, and when it expires

Simon's rent is spread across many tenants and its anchors pay little. The top ten inline tenants account for 15.3% of base minimum rent (our arithmetic), and the largest, The Gap, for 2.5% across 312 stores. Anchors take space but not much rent: Macy's occupies 11.6% of the square feet in U.S. properties and pays 0.3% of base minimum rent, and J.C. Penney 4.7% and 0.2%. Dick's Sporting Goods, at 2.1% of the space and 0.7% of the rent, is the largest anchor by rent in the table.

About 22.4% of gross annual rental revenue from inline and freestanding leases (our arithmetic: 2.0 plus 10.0 plus 10.4) expires between July 2026 and the end of 2028, at average rents of $60 to $68 a square foot, below the $78.58 at which new leases are being signed. That is the arithmetic behind the mark-to-market argument, but the supplemental does not say how many of those spaces will be renewed or at what rent, and it excludes renewal options. These are the leases a Q3 or Q4 filing will start to show on the new-lease line. For another listed REIT read through its expiry ladder, see our page on Realty Income's dividend against AFFO and lease expirations.

Debt: $35.7 billion at 4.14%, and what matures

Simon's share of indebtedness at June 30, 2026 was $35.73 billion at a 4.14% average rate and 6.3 years to maturity. $28.70 billion is consolidated at an effective 3.93% (3.63% a year earlier), and the rest is its share of joint-venture mortgages, $7.53 billion at 4.92%, non-recourse to Simon except for $124.0 million of guarantees. 94.8% of the total is fixed rate.

The wall is 2026 to 2028. The three years from July 2026 total $12.50 billion, 34.8% of the $35.93 billion face amount (our arithmetic). The unsecured part includes $846.4 million of commercial paper at 3.96% (weighted maturity July 17, 2026), $213.9 million of Klépierre-exchangeable euro bonds due November 14, 2026 (EUR 101.2 million after post-quarter conversions), a $750 million 3.25% note due November 30, 2026, and in 2027 notes of $550 million at 1.38% (January), $750 million at 3.38% (June) and $750 million at 3.38% (December). The weighted rate on the unsecured 2027 maturities is 2.81%; the notes Simon has issued in 2026 carry 3.65% (EUR 500 million, five years), 4.30% ($800 million, five years) and 4.02% (a $460 million swapped term loan). New secured loans were 5.25% on $2.3 billion in Q1 and 5.36% on $1.4 billion in Q2, according to the releases. As an illustration only (our arithmetic), moving $2,449.3 million of 2027 unsecured debt from 2.81% to 4.30% would add about $36.5 million of annual interest, about $0.10 per share or unit on 380.0 million. Interest expense was $281.2 million in Q2 2026, up 20.8% (our arithmetic), partly from the TRG debt.

Liquidity and covenants are strong. Simon reported $9.3 billion of liquidity at June 30, $1.7 billion of cash (including its share of joint-venture cash) and $7.6 billion of capacity net of commercial paper on $8.5 billion of revolving facilities. On March 5, 2026 it extended the $5.0 billion revolver to June 30, 2030, with two six-month extensions available at its option. The indenture covenants on the senior notes read: total debt to total assets 37% against a 65% maximum, secured debt 16% against 50%, fixed charge coverage 4.7 times against a 1.5 minimum, and unencumbered assets 305% of unsecured debt against a 125% minimum. Ratings are A (stable) at S&P and A3 (positive outlook) at Moody's. The 10-Q says Simon has “sufficient cash on hand and availability” to address maturities through 2026; it makes no such statement for 2027 or 2028. Compare this with the debt discussion on our pages for Public Storage (3.3% average rate) and Prologis, which carry lower leverage, and for the office REITs, where the problem is occupancy rather than the rate.

The Operating Partnership: what you own when you own SPG

SPG shares are a claim on Simon Property Group, Inc., a REIT whose main asset is its general partner interest in Simon Property Group, L.P. (the Operating Partnership, which has its own SEC filer number, CIK 1022344, and files combined reports with Simon). The 10-Q describes it as the entity that “owns directly or indirectly all of our real estate properties and other assets.” At June 30, 2026 Simon owned 85.3% of it (85.4% at December 31, 2025).

The 10-K says that limited partners “have the right under the Operating Partnership’s partnership agreement to exchange their units for shares of common stock or cash, as selected by Simon as the sole general partner.” In practice this means a quarter of dividend cash goes to unit holders alongside shareholders, per-share FFO is computed on 380.0 million shares and units, and the Operating Partnership buys units from Simon whenever Simon buys stock. A holder should watch the unit count as well as the share count: units rose from 50.8 million at December 31, 2024 to 55.8 million at June 30, 2026, largely because TRG was paid for in units. The company repurchased 793,077 shares and 237,618 units in Q2 at an average $205.10 for $211.4 million, and under the program of $2.0 billion that runs to February 29, 2028 it had bought 1,485,078 shares at an average $192.59 through June 30, leaving $1,714.0 million of capacity. Our page on non-traded versus publicly traded REITs explains why this unit structure matters if you also hold a vehicle with an operating partnership.

What Simon bought, and what it says about the next deal

Simon's growth in the last two years came from buying out partners in assets it already managed, not from new markets.

TRG is the one to watch because it adds to revenue and subtracts from net income. The 10-Q reports $188.6 million of TRG consolidated revenue in Q2 and $375.2 million in the half, but a consolidated net loss of $47.7 million in Q2 and $82.6 million in the half, which includes estimated depreciation on a preliminary fair value allocation, and $68.0 million of amortization of acquisition intangibles in the half. The allocation is provisional for up to a year from October 31, 2025, so the final numbers can differ. D&A was $459.9 million in Q2 against $339.1 million, up 35.6% (our arithmetic). The then-CEO said in the Q4 release that Simon “acquired $2 billion of high-quality retail properties” in 2025. In the first half of 2026 acquisitions in the cash flow statement were zero, against $935.7 million in the first half of 2025.

The other investments. Simon holds 20.7% of Klépierre, carried at $1,377.3 million, and used Klépierre shares to settle part of its exchangeable bonds: 4,074,711 shares for EUR 110.3 million of bonds in the first half, a $64.3 million non-cash gain. It also holds stakes in Catalyst Brands (31.3% after the December 2024 deal, with a further indirect interest through SPARC Holdings), Rue Gilt Groupe and Jamestown, the “other platform investments” that Real Estate FFO excludes. In development, Simon's share of net investment is $1.07 billion at an expected 9% stabilized return and $346.0 million of cash is still needed through 2027; the 10-Q says it seeks “a stabilized return on invested capital in the range of 8-10%.” We found no new stake purchase or acquisition in the SEC filings after the August 10, 2026 8-K.

What a holder watches before the Q3 10-Q

Simon says it will release third-quarter results after the market close on November 5, 2026, with a call at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. The date comes from the company's October 6, 2026 press release, not an SEC filing. In 2026 the 10-Q has been filed the same day as the release (May 11 and August 10); in 2025 the Q3 release was November 3 and the 10-Q November 6. What the filings let you check:

What a holder or reader can do with this

This page is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. Things the filings let you check yourself:

• Compare the dividend with the right denominator. Real Estate FFO says 68.4%; FFO says 72.1% for Q2; FAD says about 78% (our arithmetic). They are different measures, defined by the company, and the one you use should match your question: cover from operations, or cover after capital spending.
• Read guidance as half-years. The raised full-year number is mostly first-half results already booked, and the second half is guided to roughly flat on the second half of 2025.
• Count units, not just shares. If you own SPG, 14.7% of the economic interest in the Operating Partnership is held by others (our arithmetic), and unit-funded deals dilute per-share FFO.
• Know which tax treatment applies. REIT dividends can include ordinary income, return of capital and capital gain; the 1099-DIV splits them. See our pages on return of capital from REIT distributions and Section 199A dividends.
• Size the position. If a large share of your income comes from a single company, a conversation with a qualified adviser about how it fits with the rest of your holdings may be worth having.

FAQ

All figures are from Simon Property Group, Inc. (SEC CIK 1063761; co-registrant Simon Property Group, L.P., CIK 1022344) filings read on EDGAR on October 16, 2026: Form 10-K for 2025 (accession 0001104659-26-019419); Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (0001104659-26-093360, filed August 10, 2026) and for March 31, 2026 (0001104659-26-058640); earnings releases and supplemental information attached to Forms 8-K for Q3 2025 (0001104659-25-105545), Q4 2025 (0001104659-26-009209), Q1 2026 (0001104659-26-058646) and Q2 2026 (0001104659-26-093361); Forms 8-K of February 5, 2026 on the repurchase program (0001104659-26-010999) and March 5, 2026 on the credit facility (0001104659-26-024152). The November 5, 2026 earnings date comes from the company's October 6, 2026 press release, which is not an SEC filing. Percentages of FFO and FAD, per-share conversions, implied second-half guidance, maturity totals and shares, the new-lease comparisons and the refinancing illustration are our arithmetic from those rows; FFO, Real Estate FFO, FAD and NOI are the company's own non-GAAP measures and definitions. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.