Exhibit 99.1

Earnings Release

INVESTORS REAL ESTATE TRUST

ANNOUNCES

FINANCIAL AND OPERATING RESULTS

FOR THE QUARTER ENDED JULY 31, 2013

Minot, ND – September 9, 2013 – Investors Real Estate Trust (NYSE: IRET) reported financial and operating results today for the quarter ended July 31, 2013.

During the three month period ended July 31, 2013, IRET's revenues increased from the year-earlier period. Funds From Operations (FFO)¹ overall increased and on a per share and unit basis remained the same for the three month period ended July 31, 2013 compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year. Net income increased from the year-earlier period. Included in first quarter fiscal year 2014 net income was a gain on involuntary conversion from the receipt of insurance proceeds for the redevelopment of our Chateau apartment property following the fire that destroyed one building in February 2012.

For the three month period ended July 31, 2013, as compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year:

·	Revenues increased to $67.2 million from $61.0 million.

·	Total expenses increased by approximately $8.8 million, or 20.4%, in the three months ended July 31, 2013 compared to the three months ended July 31, 2012, from $43.2 million to $52.0 million.

·	FFO increased to $19.7 million on approximately 124,179,000 weighted average shares and units outstanding, from $17.6 million on approximately 111,292,000 weighted average shares and units outstanding ($.16 per share and unit for both periods).

·	Net Income Available to Common Shareholders, as computed under generally accepted accounting principles, was approximately $199,000 compared to $1.1 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Significant Events and Transactions during the first quarter of fiscal year 2014:

·	the acquisition of a multi-family residential property in Rapid City, South Dakota for $6.2 million, adding 71 units to the Company's multi-family residential portfolio;

·	the disposition of four commercial industrial properties and one commercial retail property, for a total sales price of approximately $21.8 million and a gain of approximately $1.9 million; and

·	the filing of a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to enable the Company to offer and sell, from time to time, in one or more offerings, an indeterminate amount of its common and preferred shares of beneficial interest and debt securities.

IRET's President and Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Mihalick, commented, "We are pleased to report solid results for the quarter, led by contributions from acquisitions and development projects placed in service in fiscal year 2013. During the quarter, we added an additional 71 apartment units in our multi-family portfolio following our purchase of an apartment property in Rapid City, South Dakota, and we continued with our planned disposition of non-core industrial and retail properties, with the sale of four commercial industrial and one commercial retail property. We continue to expect that our development pipeline, including our River Ridge Apartments in Bismarck, North Dakota, our Cypress Court Apartments in St. Cloud, Minnesota, our Landings at Southgate project in Minot, North Dakota, and our Renaissance Heights I project in Williston, North Dakota, will experience strong lease-up at completion. Over the past twelve months, I have discussed IRET's plan to maximize the opportunities in front of us in our home Great Plains region.  I believe progress has been made, and, although we have more work to do, IRET is committed to completing the task at hand."

______________________________

---

Operating Results

Net Operating Income (NOI)² from all properties increased by $4.3 million, or 11.8%, during the three month period ended July 31, 2013, compared to the same period one year ago. Non-stabilized properties accounted for $3.4 million of the increase while stabilized properties added approximately $879,000.

Development projects placed into service, which are included in the non-stabilized pool, continue to be strong contributors to NOI as we are experiencing rapid lease up with strong market rents in the communities where IRET is building. The stabilized properties are operating basically consistent with prior periods, with an NOI increase of $879,000 primarily due to slight increases in occupancy which provided for increased tenant reimbursements in our commercial office, commercial healthcare and commercial industrial segments. Detail on NOI by segment is provided in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2013.

Physical occupancy as of July 31, 2013 compared to July 31, 2012 increased slightly in two of our five reportable segments (commercial office and commercial healthcare), decreasing slightly in our multi-family residential and commercial industrial segments, on a stabilized basis and an all-property basis. Physical occupancy as of July 31, 2013 compared to July 31, 2012 in our commercial retail segment decreased 7.5% and 7.4% on a stabilized basis and an all-property basis, respectively, primarily due to the expiration of an anchor tenant's lease for 84,338 square feet at our Jamestown Buffalo Mall property during the first quarter of fiscal year 2014. A new lease for the vacant space was executed in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014 with an effective date of August 1, 2013.

Physical Occupancy Levels on a Stabilized Property and All Property Basis:

______________________________

2

We measure the performance of our segments based on NOI, which we define as total real estate revenues and gain on involuntary conversion less real estate expenses (which consist of utilities, maintenance, real estate taxes, insurance, property management expenses and other property expenses). We believe that NOI is an important supplemental measure of operating performance for a real estate investment trust's operating real estate because it provides a measure of core operations that is unaffected by depreciation, amortization, financing and general and administrative expense. NOI does not represent cash generated by operating activities in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered an alternative to net income, net income available for common shareholders or cash flow from operating activities as a measure of financial performance. See tables below for a reconciliation of NOI to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

3

Stabilized properties are properties owned or in service for the entirety of the periods being compared, and, in the case of development or re-development properties, which have achieved a target level of occupancy of 90% for multi-family residential properties and 85% for commercial office, healthcare, industrial and retail properties.

---

Acquisitions and Dispositions

During the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, the Company closed on its acquisitions of:

·	a 71-unit multi-family residential property in Rapid City, South Dakota, on approximately 3.2 acres of land, for a purchase price of $6.2 million, of which $2.9 million was paid in cash and the remainder in limited partnership units of the Operating Partnership valued at $3.3 million; and

·	an approximately 0.7-acre parcel of vacant land in Minot, North Dakota for a purchase price, including acquisition costs,  of $179,000, paid in cash.

During the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, the Company sold four commercial industrial properties and one commercial retail property for a total sales price of approximately $21.8 million.

Shareholder Equity, Distributions and Capital Structure

As of July 31, 2013, IRET had a total capitalization of $2.3 billion. Total capitalization is defined as the market value (closing price at end of period) of the Company's outstanding common shares and the imputed market value of the outstanding limited partnership units of IRET Properties (which are convertible, at the expiration of a specified holding period, into cash or, at the Company's sole discretion, into common shares of the Company on a one-to-one basis), plus the book value of the Company's preferred shares and the outstanding principal balance of the consolidated debt of the Company.

On July 1, 2013, IRET paid a quarterly distribution of $0.1300 per share and unit on its common shares and limited partnership units of IRET Properties. This was IRET's 169^th consecutive distribution. IRET also paid, on July 1, 2013, a quarterly distribution of $0.5156 per share on its Series A preferred shares and a quarterly distribution of $0.4968 per share on its Series B preferred shares.

Distribution Declared.  Subsequent to the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, on September 4, 2013, the Company's Board of Trustees declared a regular quarterly distribution of $0.1300 per share and unit on the Company's common shares of beneficial interest and the limited partnership units of IRET Properties, payable October 1, 2013 to common shareholders and unitholders of record on September 16, 2013. Also on September 4, 2013, the Company's Board of Trustees' declared a distribution of $0.5156 per share on the Company's Series A preferred shares of beneficial interest, payable September 30, 2013 to Series A preferred shareholders of record on September 16, 2013, and declared a distribution of $0.4968 per share on the Company's Series B preferred shares of beneficial interest, payable September 30, 2013 to Series B preferred shareholders of record on September 16, 2013.

Conference Call Information

The Conference Call for 1st Quarter Earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 9:00 A.M. Central Time.  The call will be limited to one hour, including questions and answers.  Conference call access information is as follows:

USA Toll Free Number: 1-888-317-6016

International Toll Free Number: 1-412-317-6016

Canada Toll Free Number: 1-855-669-9657

A webcast and transcript of the call will be archived on the "Investors/ Presentations & Events/Presentations" page of IRET's website, http://www.iret.com, for one year.  Questions regarding the conference call should be directed to IRET Investor Relations at landerson@iret.com.

About IRET

IRET is a self-administered, equity real estate investment trust investing in income-producing properties located primarily in the upper Midwest. IRET owns a diversified portfolio of properties consisting of 88 multi-family residential properties with 10,351 apartment units; and 68 commercial office properties, 65 commercial healthcare properties (including senior housing), 14 commercial industrial properties and 28 commercial retail properties with a total of approximately 12.0 million square feet of leasable space.  IRET common shares, Series A preferred shares and Series B preferred shares are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE symbols: IRET, IRETPR and IRETPRB, respectively). IRET's press releases and supplemental information are available on the Company website at www.iret.com or by contacting Investor Relations at 701-837-4738.

Certain statements in this earnings 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: intentions and expectations regarding future distributions on our common shares and units, 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 2013 Form 10-K.  We assume no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.

---

INVESTORS REAL ESTATE TRUST AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (unaudited)

---

INVESTORS REAL ESTATE TRUST AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (unaudited)

for the three months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012

---

INVESTORS REAL ESTATE TRUST AND SUBSIDIARIES

RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO

INVESTORS REAL ESTATE TRUST TO FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS

for the three months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012

(1)

Real estate depreciation and amortization consists of the sum of depreciation/amortization related to real estate investments and amortization related to non-real estate investments from the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations, totaling $19,518 and $15,885, and depreciation/amortization from Discontinued Operations of $68 and $401, less corporate-related depreciation and amortization on office equipment and other assets of $31 and $99, for the three months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

(2)	UPREIT Units of the Operating Partnership are exchangeable for cash, or, at the Company's discretion, for common shares of beneficial interest on a one-for-one basis.

(3)	Net income attributable to Investors Real Estate Trust is calculated on a per share basis. FFO is calculated on a per share and unit basis.

---

INVESTORS REAL ESTATE TRUST AND SUBSIDIARIES

for the three months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012

vii