Essex Purchases Four Seattle Area Properties; Company Also Adds Another Southern California Property.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 1997--Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) today announced the acquisition of five properties, investing $40.2 million in West Coast multifamily property.

In Seattle, Essex purchased a four-property portfolio, investing $28.48 million in 405 multifamily units, including two multifamily properties in Seattle, one in Kirkland and one in Bothell, WA.

In an unrelated transaction, Essex acquired Trabuco Villas, a 132-unit multifamily community in Orange County, California.

Keith Guericke, Essex's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented that "our strong footing as an established contender in the growing West Coast markets gives us a competitive advantage in acquiring and operating multifamily properties. We recently reported a 16 percent per share increase in Funds From Operations for the third quarter of 1997 as compared to the third quarter of 1996. This growth is testimony to the strong fundamentals in our markets. Job growth is fueling demand for housing, the high cost of home ownership leads to increased multifamily demand, and new supply is limited," continued Guericke.

Essex has successfully positioned itself as a West Coast regional real estate investment trust, with the geographical diversity of its multifamily portfolio as follows: 33 percent located in the Seattle metropolitan area, 36 percent in Southern California, and 27 percent in the San Francisco Bay Area. Essex also owns two multifamily properties in Portland, Oregon.

In Bothell, Essex purchased Stonehedge Village, which contains 196 units, at a contract price of $14.16 million. This property contains all two-bedroom apartment units, with 97 being large two-story townhome units. These units have increased value in the marketplace due to their size and the split-level feature. Stonehedge was built in 1986 and is currently 95 percent occupied. This property affords residents numerous amenities, including fitness center, pool, spa, racquetball court and washer/dryers in units.

In the upscale Eastside community of Kirkland, Essex purchased the 92-unit Bridle Trails property. Built in 1986 and currently 98 percent occupied, Bridle Trails offers residents a full amenity package including pool, spa, fitness center and fireplaces. The property contains 28 one-bedroom apartment units and 64 two-bedroom units. Essex purchased the community at a contract price of $6.62 million.

Guericke noted that "these properties are fitting additions to our Eastside portfolio. We now operate about 2,800 units on the Eastside, which remains the strongest Seattle area submarket, with the highest occupancies and demand for multifamily units."

As part of the total $28.48 million portfolio acquisition, Essex purchased Maple Leaf and Spring Lake Apartments with 48 and 56 units respectively. Maple Leaf was purchased for $3.84 million, and Spring Lake for $3.86 million. Both properties offer garages and a security perimeter, and individual units have patios or balconies.

Lake Forest, a growing Orange County community, is home to Essex's newest Southern California property, Trabuco Villas. The property is close to the major employment centers in Irvine, which is projected to have the greatest absolute job growth of the 48 Los Angeles Basin submarkets through the year 2001. "Lake Forest has seen almost no new construction of multifamily housing over the past several years. The lack of available housing, and the strong job growth in the region make Lake Forest an ideal candidate for multifamily investment," commented Guericke. Trabuco Villas is a 132-unit community with pool, spa and basketball court. Residents enjoy garages and patios or balconies in individual units. The property was built in 1985 contains 44 one-bedroom units and 88 two-bedroom units. Essex paid $11.75 million for the property.

Essex Property Trust, Inc., located in Palo Alto and traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ESS), is a fully integrated Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Self-administered and self-managed, Essex focuses on multifamily properties in targeted West Coast markets, specifically the San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California and Portland metropolitan areas. Currently, Essex has ownership interests in 49 multifamily properties (9,765 units), accounting for approximately 95 percent of its revenue. Additional information can be located on the world wide web at www.essexproperties.com .

The statements which are not historical facts contained in this release are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, market demand, the effect of economic conditions, the timing of development projects, the impact of competition and competitive pricing, the result of financing efforts, the effect of the Company's accounting policies and other r full file on the Internet

with Hyperlinks to your home page.

Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 4 browser isn't translating into repeat business, a new survey reports.

According to a poll released today by PC World Online http://www.pcworld.com, half (49.6%) of the users of rival Netscape , which delivers content tailore d to a user's requests. Among those who do, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (25.5%) and PointCast (24.2%) virtually tied as favorites, wiopinions regularly on technology and Internet issues.

Read the latest updates on the Microsoft vs. Netscape browser wars at http://www.pcworld.com/news/ie4. Tomorrow, PC World Online posts "Communicator vs. IE 4: And The Winner Is..." -- an in-depth editor review of the twne, ranked consistently among the Top 30 sites in the United States by Jupiter Research's AdSpend Report, reaches more than 1.25 million unique readers per month on the Web http://www.pcworld.com, America Online (Keyword PCWORLD), and CompuServe (go PCWORLD), and through channels on many popular "push" services, including Lanacom's Headliner, Incommon's Downtown, and others. PC World Online Servic Scott Danish

Director of Marketing & Research, Online Services Group

415/978-32 Kaminer

212/627-8098

[e-mail]

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet

with Hyperlinks to your home page.

URL: http://www.businesswire.com