Getting a job in commercial real estate could get easier in 2025.
Finance, asset management and property management roles are seeing the fastest growth.
After bearing the recent years of sluggish transaction volume with staffing cuts and hiring freezes, commercial real estate firms are reversing course. The number of firms planning to increase hiring this year is 3.5 times higher than the number of companies planning to cut staff, according to new research from Ferguson Partners.
Throughout October and November, Ferguson gathered data from 170 public and private CRE firms about their hiring and compensation strategies.
“Our latest survey demonstrates the real estate job sector is showing signs of life as hiring activity at the executive and C-suite levels returned at the end of the year, and we expect that trend to continue,” Ferguson President Graham Beatty said in a statement.
Hiring demand is being driven by increased transaction volumes and CEO succession mandates at REITs and private equity firms, Beatty said. Mid-level employees are in high demand, with firms increasing headcount the most in finance and accounting, asset management and property management roles.
Executive hiring also increased markedly in the last two months of the year, Ferguson found.
Entry-level jobs in commercial real estate have been steadily declining over the last two years as the industry grappled with declining revenues amid rising interest rates and questions about the future of office work.
The CRE job market improved slightly towards the end of last year and is expected to continue growing through 2025, but recruiters don’t expect firms to embark on large expansion plans until 2026. New York remains the nexus of real estate jobs, but markets like Miami and Atlanta have grown as investors continue to eye the Sun Belt for opportunity.
Entry- and mid-level jobs are also the most likely to see salary increases in 2025.
Just over half of public companies surveyed are expecting to increase salaries at the executive level, but 80% are expecting to increase at least some salaries, with the average expected increase ranging from 3.2% to 3.4% depending on employee seniority.
At private firms, 77% of respondents are expecting salaries to rise across the board, with half projecting increases in executive salaries.
The majority of public and private companies are maintaining similar bonus pools in 2025 to last year, with 82% of public companies and 68% of private companies funding 2024’s bonus pools at or above target levels.
Sector performance is reflected in bonus payouts, with 35% of retail respondents expecting to boost bonuses in 2025 while 29% of industrial firms expect bonuses to contract as the sector continues to normalize after a pandemic-era flurry of activity.
“Both public and private real estate companies continue to experience challenges related to the cost, accessibility, and deployment of capital, compounded with years of increases to operating costs, which is impacting employee compensation,” Ferguson Managing Director Charlie Apfelbach said in a statement.
