CRE Job Listings Rebound Amid Revived Dealmaking

After years of paring back, commercial real estate companies are in hiring mode again, especially for investment and finance roles.

A rebound in transaction volume through 2025 has driven job openings despite a listless overall hiring picture in the U.S. Fresh from the years of challenges and layoffs, CRE companies are hiring more strategically with an eye on staying competitive in an uncertain market.

“There's a gut check that says there's something brewing in the market that's positive, that is driving hiring activity,” Ferguson Partners President Graham Beatty said. “This is indicative of a better hiring environment for 2026, and I expect hiring to ramp up.”

Job postings for finance and transaction roles on the SelectLeaders job board nearly tripled year-over-year to 431. Private equity postings, specifically, doubled to 148, while developer-focused positions increased from 93 in 2024 to 249 in 2025.

The total number of positions advertised on the CRE-focused job board more than doubled from 642 to 1,480. 

Compensation trends provide another data point backing a slight resurgence in 2025. In October, RCLCO reported a 4.7% increase in base salaries between 2024 and 2025. CRE firms initially calculated a 4.2% increase but then had to revise upward. 

The overall job market last year hit its lowest mark since the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, with employers adding 584,000 jobs compared to more than 2 million new jobs in 2024.

CRE investment volume grew by 22% year-over-year to $499B in 2025, according to CBRE. 

This year is expected to build on the trend, with the Mortgage Bankers Association projecting $805B in commercial mortgage originations in 2026, up from $633B in 2025.

“I think you would expect to see a lot of these big brokerage teams hiring people to get these deals done,” Altus Group Associate Director of Research Cole Perry said.

Ferguson Partners also has been tracking growing interest in niche sector roles, including those focused on strip center retail, senior housing and data centers. More companies are looking for executive leadership and capital-raising specialists with data center backgrounds. 

This includes an increase in strategic hiring, said Ellen Klasson, managing director of RCLCO's management consulting practice. 

That means companies are hiring to expand their investment strategies and fundraising capabilities, such as by recruiting heads of capital markets or adding a chief investment officer, as well as looking to add chief operating officers to assist CEOs and help guide financial strategy.

“The fundamentals to be able to do deals are improving,” Klasson said. “People are finally seeing better demand, whereas development has been all but dead in the water for a long time.”

There are also larger secular trends at play, RETS Associates principal Kent Elliott said. Baby boomers are retiring, which opens up spaces to move up the ladder and has driven more hiring opportunities.  

Artificial intelligence has yet to significantly impact hiring at scale, according to both Beatty and Klasson. There has been some reduction in recruitment for junior talent, but large-scale deployment of the technology at a scale that would drastically change larger employment figures hasn’t happened yet. 

But based on insight from her firm’s management consulting practice, Klasson also thinks the nascent uptick in transactions and hiring will allow companies to enact larger shifts in operations, which may lead to more specialized hiring. 

The much slower market of the last few years has given CRE firms a chance to “look inward” and strategize about operations. Signs of a more competitive environment emerging offer a chance to enact those plans, she said.

“There have been strategic shifts in the way that these organizations are operating, so they're not relying now on rate cuts as the key driver for growth,” Beatty said. “They're relying on effectively pivoting strategies to make their companies more effective, and I think that will continue to drive hiring. So hiring is back. But it's probably more practical, asset management and finance first.” 

Going forward, companies are keeping their bonus pools steady and being more strategic about hiring, but with more signs of life in the hiring market, the retention risk goes up for top performers, which may help drive salary increases, Beatty said. 

Some aren’t seeing the trends trickle down to the market as a whole, with only selective roles benefiting from the recent market turn. CRE Recruiting CEO Allison Weiss sees the activity merely coming from job postings, not a sustained uptick in hiring. 

“I’m not going to blow smoke and say everyone’s benefiting,” Elliott said. “It’s definitely selective hiring for specific roles.”

But if market activity increases as some have predicted, this cycle of increased competition and rising compensation will continue. 

“Many of the factors that made large deals come back last year will remain true,” Perry said. “Rate volatility has eased. Pricing is regaining its footing. The debt markets have come back. These aren’t changing overnight. If the fundamentals stay like this for a while, I could see firms making some more long-term decisions.”

Featured on Bisnow; written by Patrick Sisson, posted 02/10/2026