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Commercial real estate firms expect to do more hiring this year, according to a survey by Chicago-based search firm Ferguson Partners. Forty-seven percent of public and private investment shops and brokerages surveyed said they plan to increase staffing, an uptick from 37% in 2024.
Just 13% predicted they would downsize their workforce in 2025, compared with 30% last year. But 40% said their workforces would stay the same, up from 33%.
“We are seeing a brighter picture, but not yet a 180-degree turn,” says Ferguson’s President Graham Beatty in a company report. Responses from 170 companies were collected through early November 2024. Since then, requests for search assignments have markedly increased, Beatty says. “We are enthusiastic about a more positive environment for 2025, but we are not ready to say that we are going to see a dramatic increase.”
Numbers for 2024 hadn’t been finalized at press time, but bonuses were likely flat because the costly borrowing environment resulted in lackluster sales. “Heading into 2024, firms were optimistic that the year end would be better compared to 2023, when we saw downward pressure on bonus pools,” says Charlie Apfelbach, a managing director in Ferguson’s compensation consulting group, also quoted in the report. But the current bonus outlook “looks to be a similar story.”
“Firms recognize it’s challenging to keep employees motivated with back-to-back down years [for] bonuses,” Apfelbach says. “[They are] mindful of the competitive market for mid- and junior-level professionals and are working to reduce pay volatility, particularly for top performers.”
“We are enthusiastic about a more positive [hiring] environment for 2025, but we are not ready to say that we are going to see a dramatic increase.”
-Graham Beatty, Ferguson Partners, quoted in Real Estate Alert, Jan. 7, 2025