SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	3 Months Ended
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	Jul. 31, 2011
Notes To Financial Statements [Abstract]
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	NOTE 12 . SUBSEQUENT EVENTS Common and Preferred Share Distributions. On September 2, 2011, the Company's Board of Trustees declared a regular quarterly distribution of 13.00 cents per share and unit on the Company's common shares of beneficial interest and limited partnership units of IRET Properties, payable October 1, 2011 to common shareholders and unitholders of record on September 12, 2011. Also on September 2, 2011, the Company's Board of Trustees declared a distribution of 51.56 cents per share on the Company's preferred shares of beneficial interest, payable September 30, 2011 to preferred shareholders of record on September 15, 2011. Pending Development Project and Completed Acquisitions and Disposition. Subsequent to the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, the Company formed a joint venture to construct a 145-unit multi-family residential property in Williston, North Dakota. Construction commenced in August 2011, and the Company currently estimates that the project will be completed by August 2012 at a total cost of approximately $19.5 million. The Company is the majority member of the joint venture, with a 60% interest; the remaining 40% interest is held by the Company's joint venture partner, a Minnesota limited liability company formed by a developer and a construction company based in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The Company's cash contribution to the project is approximately $3.3 million. In August 2011, the joint venture closed on a construction loan of $13.7 million from First International Bank and Trust, Watford City, North Dakota. First International is owned by Stephen Stenehjem, a trustee of the Company, and members of his family. On August 1, 2011, the Company closed on its acquisition of a 147-unit Regency Park Estates multi-family residential property in St. Cloud, Minnesota, for a purchase price totaling $10.9 million, of which approximately $7.2 million consisted of the assumption of existing debt, with the remaining approximately $3.7 million paid in cash (approximately $2.2 million) and in limited partnership units of the Operating Partnership valued at approximately $1.5 million. Subsequent to the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, the Company entered into a 10-year, fully net lease with a provider of production enhancement services to the oil and gas industry, to construct and then lease an approximately 23,000 square foot industrial building to be located in Minot, North Dakota on an approximately 9-acre parcel of vacant land. The Company expects construction of the project to begin in the fall of 2011, with completion estimated in the summer of 2012. Total construction costs are currently estimated at $4.8 million, subject to tenant requested changes. This build-to-suit project is subject to a termination option if cost components exceed current budgeted projections, and accordingly no assurances can be given that this pending development project will be completed. On September 1, 2011, the Company closed on its acquisition of seven senior housing projects located in Boise, Idaho and towns surrounding Boise, with a total of approximately 261 beds, for a total purchase price of approximately $33.8 million. The Company placed mortgage debt of $9.5 million on these properties on September 1, 2011, and currently expects to close on an additional $6.6 million in mortgage loans by the end of September 2011. The remainder of the acquisition price was paid in cash. Also subsequent to the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, on August 1, 2011, the Company sold a retail property in Livingston, Montana for a sale price of approximately $2.2 million, with approximately $1.2 million of the sale proceeds applied to pay off the outstanding mortgage loan balance on the property. The Company has no currently pending dispositions.