Anthony J. LoPinto, the founder of SelectLeaders and CEO of Equinox Partners, tells GlobeSt.com that this assessment of the marketplace has been more than a year in the making. "There has not been available any reliable evaluation of where the jobs are by sector and region," he says, adding that because of the nature of the business it is very difficult to get an accurate reading. To create the database, LoPinto opted to go beyond SelectLeaders' understanding of the online real estate job market and tap an independent source to provide data and be an integral part of the assessment process. Cornell University's Program in Real Estate and its director David Funk were tapped to be that independent source.

The inaugural job barometer, which is being released in a couple of days, contains 36 pages of data, breaking it out in a number of ways. The spring 2007 report found that there has been significant growth already this year in the number of real estate jobs posted, increasing 35% from February to April, a significant finding according to LoPinto. Additionally, 62% of senior executives plan to increase the size of their firm in the next six months, compared to a year ago; also 66% of those executives expect the total compensation packages for new hires to rise in the same time frame.

The barometer finds a misalignment between the types of jobs people are seeking and the ones that are available. Roughly 12% of submitted resumes were for acquisition positions, although that constituted only 4% of the available job market; and 7% of submitted resumes were for development positions, with that sector made up only 2% of the postings. Conversely, only 2% of submitted resumes were for property management positions, although the postings for this were 9%.

Five states account for 69% of all resumes submitted, with New York leading the pack at 40%. While New York leads the country in the industry, the West Coast accounted for the most job postings, 31%.

The Job Barometer is SelectLeaders' second recent initiative. Earlier this year it announced plans for an internship posting program. As reported by GlobeSt.com, the program will allow companies to post internship opportunities for free on SelectLeaders as a way of forming the next generation of real estate leaders.