Online Leasing Reaches New High As People Increase Reliance on Internet for Rental Information

Historic Increases in 2006 Online Apartment Transactions Announced

Scottsdale, AZ, February 5, 2007 – Realty DataTrust, the makers of the online leasing solution, VaultWare™, today published its 2006 Market Index Report along with Internet statistics indicating soaring usage of the Internet in the apartment industry. The report, combined with other current Internet statistics, shows people are spending more time than ever online and depend upon the Internet more and more for moving and rental housing information. The VaultWare Market Index (http://www.vaultware.com/marketindex) is a free, online report that measures online leasing activity in the multifamily housing industry.

Some of the highlights of the report include:

• There was a 95% increase in people viewing current apartment availability online from 2005 to 2006 and a 307% increase from 2004 to 2006.
• From 2005 to 2006 there was a 66% increase in online apartment reservations made and a 262% increase over 2004.
• Nearly 4.5 million renters in 2006 checked availability online via VaultWare-Powered "Check Availability" buttons on both Internet Listing Services and apartment community websites combined. That number is nearly twice the 2.2 million renters who did so in 2005.
• In 2006 nearly 60% of all online apartment reservations occurred outside traditional office leasing hours.

"Our industry has traditionally been slow to adopt technology. When you talk about online leasing for example, we’re past the pioneer stage and I believe we’re past the competitive advantage standpoint," said Dennis Smillie, industry analyst and president, MultiFamily Solutions, Inc. "People are beginning to see a high volume of activity, clearly defined transactions and a pattern of behavior that says, ‘If I’m not doing this I’m placing my business at a competitive disadvantage because I can’t compete with the guy across the street who is now 24/7/365, and readily accessible not only in terms of pricing and inventory, but the ability to execute and transact online whether it’s two o’clock in the morning or two o’clock in the afternoon.’"

Statistics also show that renters’ confidence in the quality of Internet content for apartment listings overall increased in 2006 as evidenced by the fact that 39% of renters made sight-unseen reservations at apartment communities, up from 19% in 2005. This trend notes a significant change in the influencing role the Internet is playing in that now many times apartment decisions and the start of the leasing process is preceding the physical visit to the apartment community, as opposed to following it. Archstone Smith noted a similar trend indicating that 28% of users did not visit the community prior to completing a lease and 39% visited the community only once.

General Internet consumer behavioral observations noted by mainstream organizations and technology companies also supports trends seen in multifamily. For example, in May of 2006, USA Today reported that 77% of individuals wanting to move went online. Additionally 78%* of people said that the Internet is the most useful source for rental housing information. And, in an announcement in January, United Dominion Realty Trust, one of the nation’s largest REITs announced that over 1.1 million unique visitors went to its website in 2006, up 71% from 2005 and that 36% of their leasing was done online, which was up 20% from the previous year.

Within the industry Realty DataTrust is recognized as the leading authority and aggregator of online transactional data due to the fact that the organization works with over 100 different multifamily property management companies and enables thousands of online availability and leasing transactions every month. According to Realty DataTrust Chief Operating Officer, Mike Cornell, "We view this kind of growth as a tangible sign that companies in our industry understand the urgency of capturing online shoppers who no longer want to just ‘surf’ the Internet. Instead, they want to connect by interacting and transacting with properties that are savvy enough to answer their questions immediately and allow them to begin the leasing process at their convenience rather than having to wait for a return phone call or email reply."

About Realty DataTrust Corporation

Realty DataTrust Corporation, located in Scottsdale, Ariz., offers online leasing solutions for the multifamily housing industry that allow consumers to easily rent an apartment online. The award-winning VaultWareTM solution revolutionized the industry when it was introduced in 2003, fulfilling a need no other service could provide by automatically displaying current rates, true availability and up-to-date promotions on demand 24 hours per day, 7 days per week from multiple websites. Today, nearly 100 management companies use VaultWare and each month thousands of requests are processed through its reservation system. In 2005 the company took the lead in spearheading an initiative to educate the multifamily industry on Internet trends and related technology breakthroughs by hosting the first annual Apartment Internet Marketing Conference. To learn more about VaultWare, Realty DataTrust or Apartment Internet Marketing, visit the company's website: www.vaultware.com.