CRE Hiring Is Full Steam Ahead: SelectLeaders Talks Industry Trends

In 2024, the commercial real estate industry lived by the mantra "survive till 25." This year, despite challenges brought by continued economic uncertainty, so-called survivors are seeing bright spots ahead — with one being hiring. 

CRE job board and executive recruiting firm SelectLeaders continues to enhance its platform to ensure employers can secure the right top talent for their company’s open jobs and candidates can navigate the hiring process smoothly. This year, the firm saw significant growth despite CRE market headwinds.

SelectLeaders Associate Director of Recruiting Katie Hart said while some companies have taken a “wait-and-see” approach to hiring in 2025, especially in response to tariffs, others were actively looking to grow their workforce.

While the industry took this same approach with regard to dealmaking, this year also saw greater enthusiasm for moving deals forward, said SelectLeaders Managing Director Ryan Neale.

“I think people have a greater understanding of the environment we’re currently in from a financial perspective and how to make deals happen in that environment,” he said. “I don’t hear as much anymore about dry powder on the sidelines. People want to get deals done, and they’re cautiously optimistic about what’s going on in the industry.”

The firm walked Bisnow through the latest CRE trends and shared data on which sectors are seeing the most open roles.

Housing Sectors Reign Supreme

SelectLeaders data found the housing sector had the greatest demand for top talent, with multifamily making up one-quarter of the firm’s job postings. Affordable housing roles increased by over 150% from 2024.

SelectLeaders Senior Corporate Recruiter Brittany Acosta said the firm has been hiring for development managers, construction managers and project managers in multifamily as well as healthcare.

“The increase in multifamily hiring aligns with the trend that renters are dominating the housing market and developers are focusing their efforts on stabilized assets that produce income,” said SelectLeaders Customer Success Manager Jermaine Frazier-Collins. “More property operations roles will happen downstream as a result.”

Data Center Popularity Spurs Hiring

The data center industry is showing no signs of slowing down, thanks in large part to the rise of artificial intelligence. The rise in data centers also brought about more job roles on SelectLeaders, specifically in real estate investment firms and development firms and in both the East Coast and Southeast regions, Neale said. 

When it comes to AI in CRE, he said it can be used for time-saving tasks, like summarizing the points of a lease, creating proposals and analyzing data; however, people will still be at the helm.

“The ideation is there for what AI can do, but I don’t think the execution is there yet,” Neale said. “Some organizations are using it for fundamental tasks, but it’s going to take time for AI to have a broad impact on organizations holistically.”

More Development And Brokerage Hiring On The Radar

Capital markets, development and construction management roles have been on the rise on the SelectLeaders platform in the last two quarters, Neale said. 

Investment firms and developer roles made up 46% of the jobs posted this year on the platform. Construction management roles, in particular, have gone up 50% from the previous year.

Neale said roles at brokerages also have been seeing traction, with a 144% increase in open positions, but companies will only truly be seen as bouncing back when they increase their demand for analysts, associates and marketing professionals associated with high transaction volume. 

“Once we see these positions flood the job board, we can officially say that things are back to normal, but that hasn’t happened yet,” Neale said. “All the leading indicators of capital markets, developers and brokers hiring again are positive signs.”

Two Heads Are Better Than One

Frazier-Collins said the expanding hiring market means that instead of hiring one person to perform more than one role, many companies are hiring one person for one role. 

Neale said “doing more with less” was a money-saving strategy, but now companies are moving away from that in the face of more lucrative times. 

“There has been more specificity needed in the roles that hiring managers are looking for,” Frazier-Collins said. “It’s not beneficial to have someone splitting their time between the important responsibilities in their company.”

SelectLeaders Evolves With Needs

SelectLeaders has collaborated with a coalition of CRE executive directors at universities, including Marquette, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Notre Dame, providing real-time trends around CRE asset classes and geographies and what skill sets students need for industry roles. It also partners with Bisnow and CRE sales prospecting platform Biscred to source candidates. Acosta said one focus for the firm has been increasing outreach and enhancing the quality of its services.

“Even if someone doesn’t find the right role on our job board today, we focus on delivering real value so they come back when the timing is right,” Neale said. “Many professionals who land roles through SelectLeaders later return as clients themselves, hiring talent for the teams they go on to lead.”

The company has also been organizing and extracting data and providing real-time information related to hiring to partners, employers and candidates. Frazier-Collins said SelectLeaders optimized its reporting to better identify CRE industries and asset classes.

Neale said the firm provides market-specific trends, asset class trends and compensation information to its users. It has also expanded its internal team, hiring across its executive recruiting, sales and business development departments. He added that the firm’s impetus for its expansion is due to its optimism for the industry moving into 2026.

“We continue to innovate for our employers and candidates,” Hart said. “We want to provide as much information as possible for people using SelectLeaders as a resource to set both sides up for success.”

For questions about SelectLeaders’ hiring solutions, users can reach out to SelectLeaders Associate Director of Recruiting Katie Hart or SelectLeaders Enterprise Account Executive Roman Velichko.

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and SelectLeaders. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.