IRETP Investors Real Estate Trust - Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares of Beneficial Interest (MM)

Investors Real Estate Trust (Nasdaq:IRET) (Nasdaq:IRETP) today reported its financial and operating results for the year and three months ended April 30, 2011. The Company also announced that its Board of Trustees has approved a plan to reduce the Company's quarterly distribution to $0.1300 from $0.1715 per common share and limited partnership unit, effective with the next quarterly distribution planned for October 3, 2011.   

A complete financial and operating results earnings release is accessible at the "Investor Relations" section of IRET's website at http://iret.com. It is also available directly at the following web page:

http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/docs.aspx?iid=107231 (Note: If clicking on the above link does not open up a new web page, you may need to cut and paste the above url into your browser's address bar.)

The Company will host a conference call on Friday, July 1, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time to discuss these results. Conference Call access information is as follows:

USA Toll Free Number: 1-877-317-6789

International Toll Free Number: 1-412-317-6789

Canada Toll Free Number: 1-866-605-3852

A replay of the call will be archived on the "Investors/Presentations and Events" page of IRET's website at http://www.iret.com, through July 2, 2012.

Questions regarding the conference call should be directed to IRET's Investor Relations at landerson@iret.com.

About Investors Real Estate Trust

Investors Real Estate Trust is an equity real estate investment trust. Its business consists of owning and operating income-producing multi-family residential and commercial properties located primarily in the upper Midwest. Investors Real Estate Trust is based in Minot, North Dakota, and has additional offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Omaha, Nebraska. 

Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from projected results. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to: our stated intentions or expectations regarding our common share and unit distributions, fluctuations in interest rates, the effect of government regulation, the availability of capital, changes in general and local economic and real estate market conditions, competition, our ability to attract and retain skilled personnel, and those risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our 2010 Form 10-K.  We assume no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.

CONTACT: Lindsey Knoop Anderson
         Director of Investor Relations
         3015 16th Street SW, Suite 100
         PO Box 1988
         Minot, North Dakota 58702-1988
         phone: 701.837.4738
         fax: 701.838.7785
         email: landerson@iret.com