BRE Properties Appoints Two New Members to Board of Directors

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BRE Properties, Inc. (NYSE:
BRE) today announced the appointment of Thomas P. Sullivan and Jeffrey T. Pero
to the company's board of directors, effective December 1, 2009. The
appointment of two new directors, which increases the board to 12 members, is
part of an ongoing board succession plan, implemented as current members near
retirement age. Edward E. Mace, a current BRE director, is scheduled to retire
May 2010.

Sullivan, a partner at Wilson Meany Sullivan; and Pero, a retired partner at
Latham & Watkins, LLP, will serve on the board as independent directors.
Sullivan will serve on the real estate and audit committees; Pero will serve
on the audit, and nominating and governance committees.

"BRE is pleased to welcome Tom Sullivan and Jeff Pero, two highly successful,
well-respected individuals with a wealth of experience in virtually every
aspect of our business, to our board," said Constance B. Moore, BRE's
president and CEO. "For more than 20 years, Tom has been instrumental in the
development of landmark office and retail properties in the San Francisco Bay
area. For the past 10 years, Jeff served as our primary outside counsel. In
the current business and regulatory environment, his legal and transactional
expertise will add an important competency to the board."

Sullivan is a founding partner of Wilson Meany Sullivan (WMS), a San
Francisco-based, privately owned real estate investment and development firm
focused on urban infill locations in the Western United States. At WMS,
Sullivan's focus is company management, identification of investment
opportunities, major transactions, and debt and equity financing. Sullivan
played a major role in the development of large-scale, technologically
innovative projects in San Francisco, most notably Foundry Square, the Ferry
Building and 250 Embarcadero (headquarters of Gap Inc.).

Prior to WMS, Sullivan served as president of Wilson/Equity Office, a joint
venture with Equity Office Properties Trust; and as senior vice president at
William Wilson & Associates. Both companies were predecessors of WMS, which
was formed by development partners of each entity in 2003.

Sullivan is a member of the policy advisory board of the Fisher Center for
Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and
the board of the Bay Area Council; he also is chair of the council's Urban
Development Working Group. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; a professional diploma in real estate investment
analysis from New York University; and a M.B.A. from the University of
California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.

Pero, who recently retired from Latham & Watkins (LW), an international law
firm, has been engaged in the practice of law since 1971. As partner, his
focus was public and private debt and equity financings; mergers and
acquisitions; corporate governance; and compliance with U.S. securities laws.
He has lectured extensively on these topics in the United States and England.
Pero also served as primary outside counsel to several publicly traded
companies, including BRE. He served as the managing partner of the LW London
office from 1990 to 1994.

Pero is a member of the State Bar of California. He received a bachelor's
degree from the University of Notre Dame and a juris doctor degree from the
New York University School of Law.

About BRE Properties
BRE Properties, based in San Francisco, Calif., owns and manages apartment
communities convenient to its residents' work, shopping, entertainment and
transit in supply-constrained Western U.S. markets. BRE directly owns and
operates 74 apartment communities totaling 21,485 units in California, Arizona
and Washington. The company invests in communities through acquisition and
development, and currently has five properties in various stages of
development and construction, totaling 1,526 units, and joint venture
interests in 13 additional apartment communities, totaling 4,080 units. BRE
Properties is a real estate investment trust (REIT) listed in the S&P MidCap
400 Index. For more information on BRE Properties, please visit our Web site
at www.breproperties.com. (Property data as of 06/30/09)

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: Except for the historical information contained herein, this news
release contains forward-looking statements regarding the company's capital
resources, portfolio performance and results of operations, and is based on
the company's current expectations and judgment. You should not rely on these
statements as predictions of future events because there is no assurance that
the events or circumstances reflected in the statements can be achieved or
will occur. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as
"believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "approximately,"
"intends," "plans," "pro forma," "estimates," or "anticipates" or their
negative form or other variations, or by discussions of strategy, plans or
intentions. The following factors, among others, could affect actual results
and future events: defaults or nonrenewal of leases, increased interest rates
and operating costs, failure to obtain necessary outside financing,
difficulties in identifying properties to acquire and in effecting
acquisitions, failure to successfully integrate acquired properties and
operations, inability to dispose of assets that no longer meet our investment
criteria under applicable terms and conditions, risks and uncertainties
affecting property development and construction (including construction
delays, cost overruns, inability to obtain necessary permits and public
opposition to such activities), failure to qualify as a real estate investment
trust under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and increases in
real property tax rates. The company's success also depends on general
economic trends, including interest rates, tax laws, governmental regulation,
legislation, population changes and other factors, including those risk
factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the company's most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as they may be updated from time to time by
the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
or SEC. Do not rely solely on forward-looking statements, which only reflect
management's analysis. The company assumes no obligation to update this
information. For more details, refer to the company's SEC filings, including
its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

SOURCE BRE Properties, Inc.

Investors, Edward F. Lange, Jr., +1-415-445-6559, or Media, Thomas E.
Mierzwinski, +1-415-445-6525, both of BRE Properties, Inc