Strong Acquisitions, Development Fuel CRE Hiring

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NEW YORK, NY—Acquisition positions in commercial real estate now represent 9% of all CRE job postings, according to the latest SelectLeaders Job Barometer report, while development job opportunities are taking 7% of all openings, well above the historic average of 4%.

These numbers are surprising given where we are in the cycle: classic real estate employment theory suggests that a decade into an economic expansion acquisitions and development job postings should be in decline and property management jobs on the increase. Instead, for this survey, acquisitions jobs have jumped past property management openings as the third most job posting after openings in finance/investment and asset and portfolio management.

Opportunity Zones Drive Hiring

The debut of Opportunity Zones may have helped turned this model on its head, suggests Dr. David Funk, managing editor of the Job Barometer. He notes that that if even a fraction of the $2 trillion in unrealized gains available to Opportunity Zones are invested it is enough to influence real estate hiring.