Common Shares

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity Note Disclosure [Text Block]

4. Common Shares

In March 2010, we announced the creation of an at-the-market (“ATM”) share offering program through which we could, but had no obligation to, sell common shares having an aggregate offering price of up to $250 million (the “2010 ATM program”), in amounts and at times as we determined, into the existing trading market at current market prices as well as through negotiated transactions. The 2010 ATM program terminated in the second quarter of 2011, and no further common shares are available for sale under the 2010 ATM program.

In May 2011, we created an ATM share offering program through which we could, but had no obligation to, sell common shares having an aggregate offering price of up to $300 million (the “2011 ATM program”), in amounts and at times as we determined, into the existing trading market at current market prices as well as through negotiated transactions. The net proceeds resulting from the 2011 ATM program were used to redeem all of our outstanding redeemable perpetual preferred units as further discussed in Note 5, "Operating Partnerships," and for other general corporate purposes, which included funding for development activities, financing of acquisitions, repayment of notes payable and borrowings under our $500 million unsecured line of credit. The 2011 ATM program terminated in the second quarter of 2012, and no further common shares are available for sale under the 2011 ATM program.

The following table presents activity under our 2010 and 2011 ATM programs for the periods presented (in thousands, except per share amounts):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2012		2011		2010
Total net consideration	$	128,128.0	$	106,570.6	$	231,650.5
Common shares sold	1,971.4		1,751.0		4,867.7
Average price per share	$	66.01	$	61.95	$	48.37

In May 2012, we created an ATM share offering program through which we can, but have no obligation to, sell common shares having an aggregate offering price of up to $300 million (the "2012 ATM program"), in amounts and at times as we determine, into the existing trading market at current market prices as well as through negotiated transactions. Actual sales from time to time may depend on a variety of factors including, among others, market conditions, the trading price of our common shares, and determinations by management of the appropriate sources of funding for us. We intend to use the net proceeds from the 2012 ATM program for general corporate purposes, which may include funding for development activities, financing of acquisitions, the redemption or other repurchase of outstanding debt or equity securities, reducing future borrowings under our $500 million unsecured line of credit, and the repayment of other indebtedness.

The following table presents activity under our 2012 ATM program for the period presented (in thousands, except per share amounts):

	Year Ended December 31, 2012
Total net consideration	$	173,607.5
Common shares sold	2,607.9
Average price per share	$	67.63

As of the date of this filing, we had common shares having an aggregate offering price of up to $123.6 million remaining available for sale under the 2012 ATM program.

We currently have an automatic shelf registration statement which allows us to offer, from time to time, an unlimited amount of common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, or warrants. In January 2012, we issued 6,612,500 common shares in a public equity offering and received approximately $391.6 million in net proceeds. We utilized a portion of these proceeds to fund the acquisition of the 80% interest we did not own in twelve real estate joint ventures that owned twelve apartment communities, containing 4,034 apartment homes in Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Southern California, becoming sole owner of that portfolio. See Note 7 “Property Acquisitions, Discontinued Operations, Assets Held for Sale and Impairments” for further discussion of this transaction.

On May 11, 2012, the shareholders of the Company approved an amendment to our Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust to increase our total number of authorized shares from 110.0 million to 185.0 million shares of beneficial interest, consisting of 175.0 million common shares and 10.0 million preferred shares. As of December 31, 2012, we had approximately 84.4 million common shares outstanding, net of treasury shares and shares held in our deferred compensation arrangements, and no preferred shares outstanding.