EXCLUSIVE: CRE Brokers Are Seeing A Lot More Green In 2021, Survey Finds

Commercial real estate brokers are back in the money a year after much of the U.S. partially closed for business.

Nearly 70% of brokers surveyed by the commercial real estate software company Apto reported that they will make more money in 2021 than in 2020, when the onset of the coronavirus pandemic roiled the economy. That is more than double the percentage of respondents who in 2020 said their earnings increased year-over-year.

“The poll results reflect the overall economy’s strength this past year, which translated to most brokers making more money, especially those focused on industrial or multifamily real estate,” Apto founder Tanner McGraw said in a press release. "But the tide is also turning for retail real estate and high-quality office."

Nineteen percent of brokers made less money than in 2020, a precipitous drop from the 52% who saw earnings decrease year-over-year in 2020. Another 11% saw their overall earnings remain flat, roughly the same share as reported flat year-to-year earnings in 2020, according to Apto. Some 66% of brokers also executed more transactions in 2021, while 19% reported closing fewer transactions compared to last year.

The broker software company invited 10,000 brokers to take the online survey between Dec. 6 and Dec. 20.

For many in CRE, the good times will likely continue in 2022. Next year, 60% of brokers said they saw themselves making more money than they earned in 2021, while 25% expected their commission checks to shrink from this year and another 15% predicted their earnings would remain the same.

Transwestern Senior Managing Director Bradley Fulkerson said brokers' earnings have been healthier this year as companies — particularly those on the hunt for office space — are beginning to make longer-term leasing decisions. Fulkerson said companies in 2020 either inked short-term leases or avoided making any decisions as they wrestled with how to safely get employees back to the office.

The good times also are leading to strong job satisfaction. According to Apto, 91% of brokers surveyed said they wanted to remain in the commercial real estate industry as a career, down somewhat from 2020, when 96% expected to remain in the industry.

Fulkerson said that result was surprising. The Atlanta-based tenant representative said he is seeing a healthy interest among younger people to get into the CRE industry.

“I'm still doing recruiting, and we're still getting positive feedback from young people from their 20s and 30s who want to make this a career for life,” Fulkerson said.

Commercial real estate broker career satisfaction appears to be part of a larger trend of U.S. workers who, despite upending their lives during the pandemic, are satisfied with their careers. Eighty-five percent of American workers are satisfied with their jobs, according to research by Zippia. And nearly half of all workers between the ages of 50 and 64 are completely satisfied with their work, according to the corporate recruitment firm.

Zippia found that the average commercial real estate broker in the U.S. earned $102K annually.

The return to the office continues to be stronger within the commercial real estate industry. Two-thirds of brokers who work in an office with other people expect to be back in the office after the holidays, Apto said, up from 60% who expected to be back after Labor Day.

By contrast, the average office building occupancy among 10 cities was 39.5% as of the week of Dec. 20, according to Kastle Systems' weekly back-to-work barometer, which measures card swipes, fob and electronic office entries.

“It’s also nice to see brokers back in the office leading the way as real estate consumers,” McGraw said in the release. "There’s incredible value having teams together in shared space, plus we know drinking together after work is much more fun than virtual drinking. The new coronavirus variant is posing a last-minute threat to office returns, but the desire and intent to be in the office is very apparent based on brokers’ response to our survey.”