Careers in the REIT Industry
In the U.S., REITs support more than three million full-time jobs, including brokers, investor relations, accountants, architects, designers, financial analysts, property managers, marketers, developers, human resources, and more.
- Within commercial real estate, REITs offer the opportunity to work in 13 different property sectors.
- In Nareit’s 2022 Compensation & Benefits Survey, 65% of REITs plan to increase the size of their company’s workforce in the next year, with the following functions in the highest demand: Finance/accounting/tax, property management, and asset management.
- REITs invest in a wide scope of real estate property types, including offices, apartment buildings, warehouses, retail centers, medical facilities, data centers, cell towers, infrastructure and hotels. Most REITs focus on a particular property type, but some hold multiples types of properties in their portfolios.
Find Jobs in the REIT Industry
Looking for a job in REITs or commercial real estate? Nareit members are posting jobs on LinkedIn using the #reitjobs hashtag. Browse a range of job listings and get career advice from members in office, retail, healthcare, self-storage and more.
Career Development News from Nareit
Why Commercial Real Estate?
“There are a lot of paths you can take within commercial real estate, and there’s such a wide array of asset classes. Whether you want a qualitative or quantitative role, you can find it. Real estate is a little more creative than a typical finance role. When you're looking at investing in something, you can picture it, you can visit it, and I think that's really interesting.
REITs especially are a good place to work because you get the benefit of understanding how both the public and private markets intersect with real estate, and I think that's really valuable.”
- Avani Katta, senior financial analyst at JBG SMITH, 2021
Commercial Real Estate Job Postings from SelectLeaders
Nareit is a member of the SelectLeaders Real Estate Job Network, the first and only industry-wide professional real estate employment destination. Find active job postings from a variety of commercial real estate firms below:
Resources for Job Seekers
What is a REIT?
A real estate investment trust (“REIT”) is a company that owns, operates or finances income-producing real estate. REITs allow anyone to invest in portfolios of real estate assets the same way they invest in other industries. The stockholders of a REIT earn a share of the income produced – without actually having to buy, manage or finance property.
What industries do REITs operate in?
REITs invest in a wide scope of real estate property types, including offices, apartment buildings, warehouses, retail centers, medical facilities, data centers, cell towers, infrastructure and hotels. Most REITs focus on a particular property type, but some hold multiples types of properties in their portfolios.
How does the REIT industry approach ESG?
The REIT and publicly traded real estate industry makes up the physical structures of our nation’s communities and as such is uniquely positioned to take a leadership role in environmental stewardship, social responsibility and good governance practices within our society.
Continuing Education
- Nareit events - Nareit regularly hosts educational conferences and webinars – some free of charge – for REIT professionals, investors and others interested in the REIT industry.
- Nareit publications - Nareit produces several publications as well as a podcast featuring conversations with industry professionals around the latest happenings throughout the industry and investment community.
- Careers Building Communities - Careers Building Communities is a platform designed for students, educators, and other individuals to explore the commercial real estate industry and to learn more about what it takes to obtain education and employment within each sector.
Project Destined and Nareit Internship Program
Reports from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that 88% of employers have a formal diversity recruiting effort and 67% have allocated more resources to recruit historically marginalized students. As organizations trend upward in social equity practices, Nareit is committed to fostering a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable REIT and publicly traded real estate industry through its DEI strategic plan.
As part of that plan, Project Destined and Nareit are partnering on a program to help Nareit members identify and hire diverse students for paid summer internships at their companies.
“We are extremely excited to partner with Nareit to provide our community with access to early career opportunities at Nareit member companies,” said Cedric Bobo, co-founder of Project Destined. “This partnership will provide our students with REIT focused training and resources that prepare them to become the next generation of leaders in the industry.” If you're a job seeker interested in learning more about Project Destined, visit projectdestined.com.