The term of the loan is 11.5 years. The all-in effective interest rate is nearly 5.5% with 10.5 years of the term at a fixed rate and the last year at a floating rate.

"We are pre-funding our 2008 maturities. During this calendar year we have $500 million worth of debt coming due," Parrell says. "The reason we did this is given the uncertainty in the capital markets, we thought it prudent." The collateral for the loan is 13 properties, with the ability to change properties or release them with certain conditions. Equity Residential has $1.4 billion of unsecured revolving credit and approximately $500 million of unrestricted cash. The company owns, or has an investment in, 569 properties with a total of 150,162 apartment units.