Colonial Properties Trust Announces Sale of Four Multifamily Properties.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP), a diversified real estate investment trust that owns a portfolio of multifamily, office and retail properties, today announced the sale of four multifamily properties previously owned by Cornerstone Realty Income Trust for a sales price of $63.8 million. As a result of the sale, the company reduced secured debt on one of these properties by $9.8 million; the remaining proceeds were used to reduce the company's unsecured line of credit.

"With this sale, we continue to reshape our portfolio," said Paul Earle, executive vice president of the company's multifamily division. "This fits in with our ongoing strategy to reduce the average age of our assets, improve the quality of the overall portfolio and concentrate our investments in top quartile, high- growth Sunbelt markets."

Colonial Properties acquired the assets on April 1, 2005 when it merged with Cornerstone. The four properties, representing 1,320 units, are located in Texas (one in Dallas and one in Fort Worth) and North Carolina (one in Asheville and one in Raleigh). The average age of these properties is 21.7 years. The properties included in this transaction are Colonial Village at Estrada in Dallas, Copper Crossing in Fort Worth, The Meadows in Asheville, and The Trestles in Raleigh.

This sale substantially completes the transaction first announced in April 2005. Since the April announcement, 9,719 units at 34 properties have been sold for total proceeds of $543 million.

Colonial Properties Trust, through its subsidiaries, owns a portfolio of multifamily, office and retail properties where you live, work and shop in the Sunbelt. Colonial Properties Trust performs development, acquisition, management, leasing and brokerage services for its portfolio and properties owned by third parties. The company has a total market capitalization of approximately $5.6 billion. As of Dec. 31, 2005 the company owns or manages 46,537 apartment units, 20.2 million square feet of office space and 11.5 million square feet of retail shopping space. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., Colonial Properties is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLP and is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. For more information, visit www.colonialprop.com.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that impact such forward looking statements include, among others, real estate conditions and markets; performance of affiliates or companies in which we have made investments; changes in operating costs; legislative or regulatory decisions; our ability to continue to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; the cost and availability of new debt financings; volatility of interest rates or capital market conditions; effect of any terrorist activity; or other factors affecting the real estate industry generally.

Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, the Company assumes no liability to update the information in this press release.

The Company refers you to the documents filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled "Business-Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, which discuss these and other factors that could adversely affect the Company's results.