Exhibit 99.1

Independence Realty Trust Announces Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results

PHILADELPHIA, PA — July 29, 2015 — Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (“IRT”) (NYSE MKT: IRT) today announced its second quarter 2015 financial results.

Highlights

Acquisition of Trade Street Residential, Inc.

On May 11, 2015, IRT announced a definitive merger agreement (the “Merger Agreement”) to acquire all the outstanding common stock of Trade Street Residential, Inc. (“Trade Street”) (NASDAQ: TSRE). The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter subject to customary closing conditions including the approval of both IRT and Trade Street stockholders.

Upon consummation of the merger, IRT will significantly increase its scale and improve the quality of its portfolio while accelerating its market penetration in key regional markets and realizing immediate financial benefits.

Financial Results

IRT reported CFFO, a non-GAAP financial measure, for the three-month period ended June 30, 2015 of $6.3 million, or $0.19 per share – diluted based on 33.1 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted, as compared to CFFO for the three-month period ended June 30, 2014 of $3.4 million, or $0.19 per share – diluted based on 17.7 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted. IRT reported a net income allocable to common stock for the three-month period ended June 30, 2015 of $0.3 million, or $0.01 per share – diluted based on 33.1 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted, as compared to net loss allocable to common stock for the three-month period ended June 30, 2014 of $0.1 million, or $0.01 total loss per share – diluted based on 17.7 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted.

IRT reported CFFO for the six-month period ended June 30, 2015 of $12.2 million, or $0.37 per share – diluted based on 33.1 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted, as compared to CFFO for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 of $5.9 million, or $0.36 per share – diluted based on 16.5 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted. IRT reported a net income allocable to common stock for the six-month period ended June 30, 2015 of $0.1 million, or $0.00 per share – diluted based on 33.1 million weighted-average shares outstanding – diluted, as compared to net income allocable to common stock for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 of $2.8 million, or $0.17 per share – diluted based on 16.5 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 July 1, 2015, IRT’s Board of Directors declared monthly cash dividends for the third quarter of 2015 on IRT’s shares of common stock in the amount of $0.06 per share per month. The monthly dividends total $0.18 per share for the third quarter. 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 June 30, 2015:

Conference Call

All interested parties can listen to the live conference call webcast at 9:00 AM ET on Wednesday, July 29, 2015 from the investor relations section of the IRT website at www.irtreit.com or by dialing 1.877.280.4959, access code 11617991. 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, August 5, 2015, by dialing 888.286.8010, access code 40907553.

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, (i) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement, (ii) the inability to complete the merger contemplated by the Merger Agreement (the Merger”) or failure to satisfy other conditions to completion of the Merger, (iii) the inability to complete the Merger within the expected time period or at all, including due to the failure to obtain the approval of TSRE’s stockholders or IRT’s stockholders, or the failure to satisfy other conditions to completion of the Merger, (iv) risks related to disruption of management’s attention from the ongoing business operations due to the proposed Merger, (v) the effect of the announcement of the proposed Merger on IRT’s or TSRE’s relationships with their respective customers, tenants, lenders, operating results and businesses generally, (vi) changes in financial markets and interest rates, or to the business or financial condition of either company or business, (vii) availability of financing and capital, (viii) risks associated with acquisitions, including the integration of the combined companies’ businesses, (ix) maintenance of REIT Status, (x) the performance of TSRE’s portfolio and IRT’s portfolio, and (xi) those additional risks and factors discussed in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) by IRT and TSRE from time to time, including those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in their respective most recently filed reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. Neither IRT nor TSRE undertakes any duty to update any forward-looking statements contained herein, except as may be required by law.

Important Information For Investors and Stockholders

This press release does not constitute an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval. This communication relates to a proposed business combination between IRT and Trade Street. In connection with this proposed business combination, IRT has filed a registration statement on Form S-4 (Registration No. 333-204578) (the “Form S-4”) with the SEC, which includes the preliminary joint proxy statement of IRT and Trade Street and which also constitutes a preliminary prospectus of IRT. The information in the preliminary joint proxy statement/prospectus is not complete and may be changed. The definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to stockholders of IRT and Trade Street after the registration

statement is declared effective by the SEC. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF IRT AND TRADE STREET ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS (INCLUDING ALL AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND OTHER DOCUMENTS THAT MAY BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Investors and security holders will be able to obtain a free copy of the registration statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other documents filed with the SEC by IRT and/or Trade Street through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by IRT will be available free of charge on IRT’s internet website at http://www.irtreit.com or by contacting IRT’s Investor Relations Department by email at aviroslav@irtreit.com or by phone at +1-215-243-9000. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Trade Street will be available free of charge on Trade Street’s internet website at http://www.tradestreetresidential.com or by contacting Trade Street’s Investor Relations Department by email at ir@trade-street.com or by phone at +1-786-248-6099.

Participants in Solicitation

IRT, Trade Street, their respective directors and certain of their respective executive officers, as well as RAIT Financial Trust, a stockholder of IRT, Independence Realty Advisors, LLC, IRT’s advisor, and D.F. King & Co., Inc., IRT’s proxy solicitor, may be considered participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed merger between IRT and Trade Street. Information about these persons is set forth in the preliminary joint proxy statement/prospectus on Form S-4, and will be set forth in the definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus, filed with the SEC by IRT and Trade Street. Additional information about the directors and executive officers of IRT is set forth in IRT’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, which was filed with the SEC on March 16, 2015, and in IRT’s proxy statement for its 2015 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 7, 2015. Information about the directors and executive officers of Trade Street is set forth in Trade Street’s Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2014, which was filed with the SEC on March 25, 2015. Additional information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitations and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, are contained in the registration statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus (or will be contained in any amendments or supplements thereto and in other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC, when they become available). These documents can be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above.

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)

CFFO 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, gains or losses on real estate transactions 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 CFFO.

IRT’s calculation of CFFO differs from the methodology used for calculating CFFO by certain other REITs and, accordingly, IRT’s CFFO may not be comparable to CFFO reported by other REITs. IRT’s management utilizes FFO and CFFO 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, CFFO and other supplemental performance measures are defined in various ways throughout the REIT industry, IRT also believes that FFO and CFFO may provide IRT and our investors with an additional useful measure to compare IRT’s financial performance to certain other REITs. IRT also uses CFFO for purposes of determining the quarterly incentive fee, if any, payable to our advisor. Neither FFO nor CFFO is equivalent to net income or cash generated from operating activities determined in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, FFO and CFFO 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 CFFO 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.