Exhibit 99.1

Independence Realty Trust Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2013 Financial Results

PHILADELPHIA, PA — February 26, 2014 — Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (“IRT”) (NYSE MKT: IRT) today announced fourth quarter and fiscal 2013 financial results.

Highlights

Financial Results

IRT reported CFFO, a non-GAAP financial measure, for the three-month period ended December 31, 2013 of $1.9 million, or $0.20 per share – diluted based on 9.6 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted, as compared to CFFO for the three-month period ended December 31, 2012 of $1.0 million, or $0.18 per share – diluted based on 5.6 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted. IRT reported a net income allocable to common stock for the three-month period ended December 31, 2013 of $0.3 million, or $0.03 per share – diluted based on 9.6 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted, as compared to net loss allocable to common stock for the three-month period ended December 31, 2012 of $0.06 million, or $0.19 loss per share – diluted based on 0.3 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted.

IRT reported CFFO for the year ended December 31, 2013 of $5.8 million, or $0.81 per share – diluted based on 7.2 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted, as compared to CFFO for the year ended December 31, 2012 of $4.0 million, or $0.71 per share – diluted based on 5.6 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted. IRT reported a net income allocable to common stock for the year ended December 31, 2013 of $0.6 million, or $0.12 per share – diluted based on 5.3 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted, as compared to net loss allocable to common stock for the year ended December 31, 2012 of $0.1 million, or $0.45 loss per share – diluted based on 0.3 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted.

A reconciliation of IRT’s reported net income (loss) to its funds from operations (“FFO”) and CFFO is included as Schedule I to this release. Schedule I also includes management’s rationale for the usefulness of each of these non-GAAP financial measures.

Distributions

On October 10, 2013, IRT’s Board of Directors declared monthly cash dividends for the fourth quarter of 2013 on IRT’s shares of common stock in the amount of $0.05333 per share per month. The month for which each dividend was declared is set forth below, with the relevant amount per share, record date and payment date set forth opposite the month:

On January 15, 2014, IRT’s Board of Directors declared monthly cash dividends for the first quarter of 2014 on IRT’s shares of common stock in the amount of $0.06 per share per month. The month for which each dividend was declared is set forth below, with the relevant amount per share, record date and payment date set forth opposite the month:

Key Statistics

(Unaudited and dollars in thousands, except per share and per unit information)

Properties

The following table presents an overview of our apartment portfolio as of December 31, 2013:

Conference Call

All interested parties can listen to the live conference call webcast at 9:00 AM ET on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 from the investor relations section of the IRT website at www.irtreit.com or by dialing 866.318.8612, access code 16010639. For those who are not available to listen to the live call, the replay will be available shortly following the live call on IRT’s website and telephonically until Wednesday, March 5, 2014, by dialing 888.286.8010, access code 92995354.

About Independence Realty Trust, Inc.

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE MKT: IRT) is a real estate investment trust that seeks to own well-located apartment properties in geographic submarkets that it believes support strong occupancy and the potential for growth in rental rates. IRT seeks to provide stockholders with attractive risk-adjusted returns, with an emphasis on distributions and capital appreciation. IRT is externally advised by a wholly-owned subsidiary of RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS).

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “trend”, “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “continue,” “seek” or other similar words. Because such statements include risks, uncertainties and contingencies, actual results may differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to, those disclosed in IRT’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. IRT undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. Contact

Andres Viroslav

215.243.9000

aviroslav@irtreit.com

Independence Realty Trust, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(Dollars in thousands, except share and per share information)

(unaudited)

Independence Realty Trust, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(Dollars in thousands, except share and per share information)

(unaudited)

Schedule I

Independence Realty Trust, Inc.

Reconciliation of Net income (loss) Allocable to Common Stock and

Funds From Operations (“FFO”) and

Core Funds From Operations (“CFFO”) (1)

(Dollars in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(unaudited)

Core FFO is a computation made by analysts and investors to measure a real estate company’s operating performance by removing the effect of items that do not reflect ongoing property operations, including acquisition expenses, expensed costs related to the issuance of shares of our common stock and equity-based compensation expenses, from the determination of FFO. IRT incurs acquisition expenses in connection with acquisitions of real estate properties and expenses those costs when incurred in accordance with U.S. GAAP. As these expenses are one-time and reflective of investing activities rather than operating performance, IRT adds back these costs to FFO in determining Core FFO.

IRT’s calculation of Core FFO differs from the methodology used for calculating Core FFO by certain other REITs and, accordingly, IRT’s Core FFO may not be comparable to Core FFO reported by other REITs. IRT’s management utilizes FFO and Core FFO as measures of IRT’s operating performance, and believes they are also useful to investors, because they facilitate an understanding of IRT’s operating performance after adjustment for certain non-cash items, such as depreciation and amortization expenses, and acquisition expenses and pursuit costs that are required by GAAP to be expensed but may not necessarily be indicative of current operating performance and that may not accurately compare IRT’s operating performance between periods. Furthermore, although FFO, Core FFO and other supplemental performance measures are defined in various ways throughout the REIT industry, IRT also believes that FFO and Core FFO may provide IRT and our investors with an additional useful measure to compare IRT’s financial performance to certain other REITs. IRT also uses Core FFO for purposes of determining the quarterly incentive fee, if any, payable to our advisor beginning with the second quarter of 2013.Neither FFO nor Core FFO is equivalent to net income or cash generated from operating activities determined in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, FFO and Core FFO do not represent amounts available for management’s discretionary use because of needed capital replacement or expansion, debt service obligations or other commitments or uncertainties. Neither FFO nor Core FFO should be considered as an alternative to net income as an indicator of IRT’s operating performance or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of IRT’s liquidity.