LAS VEGAS-With hope of avoiding the lack of 30-something talentthat now plagues in the real estate industry, big companies areworking diligently to attract and retain the oldest of Generation Yand the youngest of Gen X. To be successful those companies willhave to overcome significant challenges that have heretoforeresulted in high turnover rates, according to a panel of expertsdiscussing the topic at the ULI fall conference in Las Vegas thisweek.

The lack of experienced thirty-somethings is due to Generation Xpassing over the industry in the early 1990s because of the creditcrunch and again in the late 1990s in favor of dot-coms andhigh-tech firms in the late 1990s. So instead of having a stable oftalent ready for mid-level and senior management jobs, there's ahole–a hole that will get wider and deeper as Baby Boomer beginretiring over the next five years.

“Part of that generation is lost and we will be paying theprice,” said David Jacobstein, a senior advisor to Deloitte &Touche's real estate group, citing statistics from a company whitepaper on the subject that says 50% of senior managers in the realestate industry will be retiring between now and 2010.