SelectLeaders: CRE Hiring Climbs Y-O-Y

NEW YORK CITY-Job postings in commercial real estate were up 5.2% from the previous quarter as Q3 drew to a close, and gained 16.2% year over year, according to the Cornell/SelectLeaders Job Barometer report issued Monday. SelectLeaders notes that the industry has seen positive employment growth in nine of the past eleven quarters, with development-related firms doubling last year's share to account for nearly 18% of those posting in the most recent quarter.

“As development takes center stage, it is bringing with it a wider range of opportunities,” says Susan Phillips, CEO of SelectLeaders. “Managing current assets led the recovery, but now as firms acquire and create new assets, we see opportunities in more categories and functions and sectors within our industry.” Overall, development roles, to include development, project and construction management, have more than doubled over the past year and comprised nearly 10% of all postings in Q3 2013, compared to 4% in Q1 2012.

Asset management and investments firms represented the largest share of postings in this quarter's survey with 23%, but this sector peaked at 32% in Q4 2011. In particular, postings in the asset management sector fell below 5% in Q3, compared with the peak of 15.3% seen in the last three months of '11.

Consulting and advisory services growth moved in a positive direction, as did the finance sector, for the first time since Q2 '12. Financial analysis postings have also risen, and Q3 saw a doubling in the demand for human resource positions from the year prior. It remains to be seen whether this portends increased hiring in general.

In terms of property type, industrial saw the fastest growth in job postings during Q3, comprising nearly 12%, more than retail. While multifamily, office and single-family together make up nearly half the postings, multifamily job demand has been on the wane while office has posted steady increases each year since 2008.

“Recent interest rate hikes and the impending tapering of the fed's quantitate easing policy have not had a significant impact on the momentum in commercial real estate job postings,” says David Funk, director of the Baker Program in Real Estate at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. “We continue to see strong growth as the industry builds its bench.” Click here to read the complete report.