NEW YORK CITY—When it comes to employment in commercial real estate, it's a job seeker's market at present. So says the latest SelectLeaders Job Barometer report, which finds that hiring activity across 2015 and 2016 has approached the high water mark in job postings last seen in the spring of 2007.

“Applications to commercial real estate openings beginning in 2015 have fallen dramatically to lows last seen in—you guessed it—2007,” according to the Job Barometer report. The resulting demand-supply gap means “good news for job seekers and an increasingly heated battle for talent for commercial real estate employers.”

Due to the “complexity and opacity” of the CRE sector, labor supply to the industry is “relatively inelastic, and many of those displaced from commercial real estate starting in 2008 have either found their way back in or permanently left the industry,” says Dr. David Funk, managing editor for the SelectLeaders Job Barometer. “The reality is a finite part of the workforce is pursuing a career in commercial real estate at any given time and the industry's bench depth now mirrors that prior to the global financial crisis.”

When the imbalance between a limited supply of openings and too much demand for employment peaked in November 2012, a commercial real estate job opportunity averaged more than 200 applicants compared to just 30 applicants in '07. Today, employers are averaging 49 applicants for each posting.

The current mismatch between job postings and qualified workers to fill them is more pronounced in some functions than others. “There has been a surge in companies seeking technology and software skillsets across all job functions but a shortage of applicants possessing those specialized skillsets,” says Susan Phillips, CEO of SelectLeaders, which powers the GlobeSt.com Career Center. “For those applicants with strong technology and analytical expertise, though, it has catapulted them along the commercial real estate career track. Tech-savvy analysts are increasingly rotated through asset and portfolio management, acquisition and development gaining experience far beyond their years.”

Funk notes that job-seekers planning to enter the industry would do well to understand the relative competitive for jobs geographically across the US and in respective fields. At the greatest extreme in '07, “we were seeing over 500 applications for each real estate private equity posting versus 30 applications for property management jobs,” he says. By contrast, this past year has seen acquisitions as the most competitive job field, attracting an average of 188 applications for each position, while accounting and controller with 37 applications provided the best odds.

SelectLeaders says applications to the job fields with the most openings reflect varying degrees of competition among job seekers. The acquisitions field constitutes 5% of all job postings but receives over 10% of all applications, while property management is the inverse. Twelve percent of all jobs are in property management but that job field only receives 7% of all applications.

At present, job opportunities in finance and investments constitute over 23% of all hiring in commercial real estate, followed by property management and asset/portfolio management. Development, long a favorite among students pursuing real estate undergraduate and graduate degrees, continues to represent over 5% of all job opportunities. Hiring development talent is particularly strong in multifamily and industrial, SelectLeaders says, and redevelopment activity across sectors makes '16 one of the more opportune times to make a career move into development since the Job Barometer started tracking the industry. Click here for the complete Job Barometer report.

Instant Insights /

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