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

Investors Real Estate Trust ("IRET") (Nasdaq:IRET) (Nasdaq:IRETP) announced today that its operating partnership, IRET Properties, has signed a lease totaling 32,906 square feet of commercial office space.

Datalink Corporation, an IT solutions company focused on making data centers more efficient and agile, has signed a 32,906 square foot lease at Crosstown Centre, located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. With this latest lease, total square footage occupied by Datalink at the Crosstown Centre building is 53,757 square feet. The lease will commence March 1, 2012 through August 31, 2019.

IRET also announces the acquisition of the Grand Gateway Apartments property in St. Cloud, Minnesota, for a total purchase price of $7.9 million. This residential property is located on approximately 11.17 acres, and adds 116 units to the multi-family portfolio, which will be internally managed by IRET. The acquisition also included an adjoining parcel of vacant land for possible future development.

About Investors Real Estate Trust

IRET is an equity real estate investment trust founded in 1970 with a diversified portfolio of multi-family residential, office, medical, industrial and retail properties located in 13 states, primarily in the upper Midwest. IRET's headquarters are located in Minot, North Dakota, and it has additional offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Omaha, Nebraska. IRET's common shares of beneficial interest trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol IRET. For more information, visit IRET's website at www.iret.com.

Safe Harbor

Statements about IRET's future expectations and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results.

CONTACT: Lindsey Anderson
         Director of Investor Relations
         1400 31st Ave SW, Suite 60
         PO Box 1988
         Minot, North Dakota 58702-1988
         phone: 701.837.4738
         fax: 701.838.7785
         email:landerson@iret.com