Easterly Government Properties, Inc.
Moat Score — Easterly Government Properties, Inc.
Total Moat Score
12 / 30
| Moat Factor | Score | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Intangible Assets Patents, trademarks, brand strength, or regulatory licenses that protect a company's products or services from being freely copied by competitors. | 2 / 5 | Easterly's proprietary database tracking roughly 94 million square feet of government-leased real estate is a genuine informational edge for sourcing deals, though it is not a legally protected or easily monetized intangible on its own. |
| Cost Advantage A durable ability to produce goods or services more cheaply than competitors — through scale, unique access to cheap inputs, location, or process — that lets a company undercut rivals or out-earn them at the same price. | 1 / 5 | As an internally managed REIT Easterly avoids an external advisory fee layer, but it has no meaningful construction or operating cost edge versus other well-capitalized commercial landlords bidding for the same Class A assets. |
| Pricing Power The ability to raise prices without losing meaningful business, because the product or service is differentiated, mission-critical, or has few good substitutes. | 2 / 5 | Long lease terms with built-in escalators and renewal negotiation at 'positive spreads' give some pricing power, but GSA-driven rent-setting and rising competition for government-leased assets constrain Easterly's ability to push rents aggressively. |
| Network Effect The product or service becomes more valuable to every user as more people or organizations use it, making an established leader harder to displace. | 0 / 5 | A government-tenant REIT generates no network effect; one tenant agency's presence in a building does not make the space more valuable to another unrelated agency. |
| Switching Costs The money, time, or operational disruption a customer would face switching to a competitor, which locks in existing customers and supports renewals. | 4 / 5 | Mission-critical, often security-hardened or build-to-suit space (secure evidence storage, specialized labs, VA clinics) is extremely costly and disruptive for a federal agency to relocate from, driving very high renewal rates and historical occupancy near 99%. |
| Efficient Scale A market that can only profitably support a small number of players, so incumbents face limited threat from new entrants even without other defenses. | 3 / 5 | As the only publicly traded pure-play government-leased REIT with deep GSA relationships and underwriting expertise, Easterly operates in a specialized niche that is slow and costly for new generalist entrants to replicate at scale. |