Looking Forward: Real Estate Job Outlook for 2021

Well – we made it!  What a relief! 2020 was certainly a challenge for us all. There isn’t a single person working in the real estate sector who was able to avoid the impact of COVID. Difficult conversations were the daily norm and living with change and uncertainty became second nature.

Now that we’ve all caught our breath and enjoyed a well needed break over Christmas, it feels like somehow in the blink of an eye that 2021 is already well and truly underway. Are we really almost in February?!

Before ploughing ahead, let’s take a moment to reflect on the year that was and what we observed. COVID was certainly excellent for challenging the norm in terms of business practices, as real estate offices had to rethink almost every facet of their business model – from managing a remote workforce, to adopting virtual inspections and online auctions as the ‘new normal’.

Principals realised that their offices could run effectively without employees having to physically be based out of the office (who would’ve thought!), but this also meant that some businesses needed to upgrade their IT systems and invest in better tech, with many switching to cloud-based platforms to enable effective remote working.

Whilst some real estate businesses panicked and began to ‘trim the fat’ in terms of staff, or cut salaries to weather the storm, interestingly we saw less people being terminated/stood down than we would’ve expected. In our experience, most employers have told us that they were only letting go of their non-performers and were very keen to retain their best staff, as they needed them more than ever. Lucky that they did, as real estate bounced back big time in the latter half of 2020.

By the end of 2020, most real estate businesses finished the year on a note of optimism, rather than anxiety. With interest rates sitting at a record low and international travel still off-limits for the foreseeable future, the local property market is pinned as a key sector for growth in the year ahead.

As a result, many Principals are confident of business growth in the coming 12 months and need to staff up. Only one month into 2021, we have already seen a huge demand for quality talent – a stark contrast to the crisis management and tightening of the ranks that we saw 9 months ago.

Property Management remains the bread and butter of the industry and this rings true in the huge demand we are seeing for quality PMs across the board – in fact, they make up about 70% of the roles we are recruiting for right now.

The PM talent pool is still incredibly tight, now more than ever, with many businesses taking months to fill a Property Management role. The reason for this is twofold – many PMs have been looking to get out of property management altogether; as their workloads were increased and in many cases salaries were reduced; Principals loaded up their PMs and took away support when they needed it most.

By contrast, Property Managers who felt that they were looked after and fairly remunerated by their employers during COVID have in turn become more loyal and less inclined to consider a move.

In terms of salaries, in a pre-COVID market, the supply-demand see-saw forced Property Management salaries through the roof. Candidates with 2-3 years’ experience had a price tag upwards of $75-$80k and entry-level leasing roles were offering up to $65k plus commissions.

The slight adjustment in salaries we saw as a result of COVID in Q2-Q3 of 2020 brought a little realignment to the market, but for the most part, there was no significant change. In 2021, Property Management salaries are as high or higher than ever.

But it doesn’t all come down to money. Moving forward, Property Managers will be seeking more than just a pay rise to jump ship, or even to stick it out in PM – they are looking for upfront job security, ongoing flexibility in hours and WFH options, better work-life balance and most of all – support.

We are also now seeing a similar spike in the demand for administration and support roles. Many clients are open to more junior candidates or those transitioning from another industry who are raring to go, rather than experienced candidates who have been completely worn out by COVID.

A notable trend coming out of 2020 is that we are seeing more candidates who are transitioning into real estate from customer service-focused industries such as hospitality, travel and retail – all of which were hit hardest by the pandemic.

We also saw a huge resurgence in Executive/Sales support roles at the tail end of 2020. We had some of the best support personnel in real estate calling us for work in the height of lockdown, the majority off the back of redundancy. The significant uptake of EA/PA and Sales Coordinator roles as the residential sales market regained momentum in Q4 has ended in a win for both parties.

The new year has also seen a fresh surge of Business Development opportunities, particularly in the residential sector. Great BDMs are extremely hard to come by, but their return on investment is undeniable. A solid BDM who can build a portfolio by 100-150 managements per year is far better value than purchasing a rent roll that will still cost them around $3.00 per rental dollar.

As the demand for quality BDMs increases however, there will come a tipping point for base salary inflation – similar to what we’ve seen in property management. In 2021, real estate businesses will need to focus more on offering attractive incentives and added flexibility in order to secure the best BDM’s.

Similarly, recovery in the residential resales market has seen the demand for Sales Associates grow exponentially over the last 3 months – we are recruiting for over 15 residential Sales Associate roles right now, as listing numbers increase across the board.

Again, the competition for talent has also driven Sales salary packages up. No longer can you secure a great Associate on the award wage. Base salaries have increased up to $80k and commissions are also more generous than we have previously seen.

2021 is poised to be a strong year in real estate employment. But employers take note – good talent is harder to secure than ever before. Sure, salaries play a role, but COVID has shown employees that they can work just as well at home and candidates are now strongly favouring companies that offer remote working and/or flexibility.