John T. Reed Nominated for Election to Investors Real Estate Trust Board of Trustees

Investors Real Estate Trust (NASDAQ: IRET) (NASDAQ: IRETP) announced that John T. Reed has been nominated to stand for election to the Investors Real Estate Trust ("IRET") Board of Trustees at the Company's Annual Meeting of Shareholders, to be held on September 16, 2008.

Mr. Reed (65), a private investor, was from 2000 until February 2005 the Chairman of HMG Properties, the real estate investment banking joint venture of McCarthy Group, Inc. Prior to that, he was Chairman of McCarthy & Co., the investment banking affiliate of McCarthy Group. Before joining McCarthy Group in 1997, Mr. Reed spent 32 years with Arthur Andersen LLP. Mr. Reed is a director of Level 3 Communications, Inc., where he serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee, and he is a director of Tetrad Corporation, Tenaska Georgia, Inc., Tenaska Washington, Inc. and First National of Nebraska. Mr. Reed is also active in civic affairs, and has served on the boards of numerous charitable, cultural and educational organizations in Omaha, Nebraska, and the region. He presently is a member of the board of Alegent Healthcare System, and a trustee of Boys Town.

"IRET is pleased to present for shareholder approval a trustee nominee with the experience and qualifications of John Reed," said Thomas A. Wentz, Sr., IRET's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We believe that his management, accounting and business experience will be extremely valuable to Company management, the IRET Board and to IRET shareholders."

About IRET

IRET is an equity real estate investment trust with a diversified portfolio of multi-family residential, office, medical, industrial and retail properties located 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.

This press release has been issued by Investors Real Estate Trust. The Company anticipates distributing its proxy statement for the 2008 Annual Meeting on or about August 4, 2008, and shareholders are encouraged to read the proxy statement, which will contain important information about the Company. Investors may obtain copies of the proxy statement and the Company's other SEC filings free of charge from the Company's website, www.iret.com, and from the website of the SEC, www.sec.gov.