BRE Properties Buys 440-Unit Apartment Community in Southern California for $23.5 Million; BRE Now Owns 11,082 Apartment Units in Western U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 1996--BRE Properties, Inc. (NYSE:BRE), one of the nation's largest multifamily real estate investment trusts (REITs), has purchased Sycamore Valley, a 440-unit apartment community in Fountain Valley, Calif., for a cash price of $23.5 million.

BRE acquired the multifamily property, which as a 98% occupancy, using tax-deferred proceeds from recent sales of non-core assets. The property is expected to achieve a first-year yield in excess of 9.5%.

Frank C. McDowell, president and chief executive officer of BRE, stated, "This acquisition continues to strengthen our multifamily focus in the major growth markets of the Western U.S. where the company now owns 51 apartment communities totaling 11,082 units. We continue to expand the apartment portfolio through a strategy that benefits from a sharply defined regional focus, yet is not overly dependent on any one market."

BRE operates in nine major markets in California, Arizona, Washington, Oregon and Nevada. Sycamore Valley raises BRE's level of management and operating efficiency in Los Angeles/Orange County as its regional presence there increases to seven communities containing 1,598 apartment homes.

McDowell added, "BRE remains on track in its growth strategy with substantial funding available from a continuing orderly disposition of the company's non-core assets. In the last 90 days, BRE has sold eight non-apartment properties for an aggregate $87.2 million. In the same three months, the company has used approximately $66 million of those sales proceeds to acquire three apartment communities totaling 1,138 units in a series of tax deferred exchanges."

The company has committed to use $13 million of the non-core sales proceeds to acquire 240 additional units that are now under development at its Newport Landing Apartments near Phoenix.

BRE Properties, founded in 1970, is a self-administered, self-managed and fully integrated equity real estate investment trust focusing on the acquisition and management of multifamily properties in the Western United States.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding Company and property performance. Actual results could vary materially depending on risks and uncertainties inherent to general and local real estate conditions, or competitive factors specific to the Western markets in which BRE operates. The Company assumes no obligation to update this information. For more details, please refer to the Company's SEC filings, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10Q.

CONTACT: BRE Properties

Lauren L. Barr, 415/445-6523