Brookfield Properties' net income for the three months that ended March 31 was $252 million, compared to a loss of $589 million for the same period in 2009. FFO rose from $105 in Q1 '09 to $136 million a year later. "With fundamentals in our largest markets—New York, Washington DC, Toronto and Houston—trending upward, we are beginning to see rental rate growth," says Brookfield Properties CEO Ric Clark in a statement. "With a current focus on a number of strategic initiatives and capital deployment, we remain positive about Brookfield Properties' position in a recovering economy."

Also on Thursday, Lexington Realty Trust reported Q1 FFO of $34.4 million, off from the $42.4 million in FFO the REIT reported for the first quarter of '09. At the same time, it narrowed its quarterly losses from $71.7 million to $33 million year over year.

"During the first quarter of 2010, we continued to make progress on Lexington's capital recycling effort with the disposal of $39.9 million of properties," says T. Wilson Eglin, president and CEO of Lexington, in a release. He adds that the company raised $193.2 million of debt and equity capital and retired $175.7 million of debt. "We continue to be focused on creating additional liquidity by selling Lexington's non-core retail and multi-tenant properties to retire debt and to be prepared to capitalize on investment opportunities as they arise."