Gordon is director of the Master of Real Estate Development program at USC. Employers have signed up 18 of the 80 graduating real estate students, who won't have their master's degrees until May, he says. The industry's biggest players are offering salary and bonuses in the $100,000 range to secure top grads, Gordon reports.

The 2004 grads who have already accepted jobs will be working for such industry leaders as Wells Fargo, Colony Capital, MetLife and Centex Homes. Salaries have remained stable for the past few years, but hiring has increased, according to Sonia Savoulian, the Lusk Center's director of alumni and student services. Homebuilding has been a hot market, and more than half of last year's survey respondents are working for developers such as KB Home, Shea Homes and the Empire Companies, she notes.

Stan Ross, chairman of the board of the USC Lusk Center, says the increase in demand for USC real estate graduates reflects the growing recognition in the industry of the value of undergraduate and graduate real estate education programs offered by universities and colleges around the country.