March 02, 2006 16:57 ET

Essex Property Trust, Inc. Registration Statement Declared Effective

PALO ALTO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 2, 2006 --Essex Property Trust, Inc., (NYSE: ESS) a real estate investment trust (REIT), announced today that its operating partnership, Essex Portfolio, L.P., a California limited partnership, has filed its resale registration statement on Form S-3, which is now declared effective in connection with the resale of $225.0 million aggregate principal amount of its 3.625% Exchangeable Senior Notes ("Notes") due 2025 and 2,179,170 shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, which may be issued upon exchange of the Notes being offered by certain selling security holders specified in the registration statement. The Notes are senior unsecured obligations of the operating partnership, and are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Essex Property Trust, Inc.

The selling security holders may use the prospectus relating to the registration statement to resell the securities covered by the registration statement. Essex will not receive any of the proceeds from the resale of the securities.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy. There shall not be any sale of these securities in any state where such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state.

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS) located in Palo Alto, California, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages apartment communities in targeted West Coast markets. Essex currently has ownership interests in 126 multifamily properties (26,760 units), and has 505 units in various stages of development. Additional information about Essex can be found on the Company's web site at www.essexpropertytrust.com. If you would like to receive future press releases via e-mail-please send a request to investors@essexpropertytrust.com.

Forward-Looking Statements -- The statements which are not historical facts contained in this release such as the statement regarding the use of net proceeds are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, unanticipated needs to use the net proceeds for other corporate purposes. All forward-looking statements are made as of today, and neither Essex nor the operating partnership assumes any obligation to update this information. For more details relating to risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements, and risks to our business in general, please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ending September 30, 2005 and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004.