17 Jan 2024

"96% of CRE firms have DEI strategies; firms increasingly focus on scholarships and internships"

AREF invited members to take part in this The Global Real Estate DEI Survey, the only corporate study of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) management practices and data benchmarking in the commercial real estate (CRE) industry.

This third iteration of the Global Real Estate DEI Survey is the result of the collaboration between six sponsoring associations NAREIM, NCREIF, PREA, REALPAC, ULI and Ferguson Partners, as well as 14 supporting associations AFIRE, AIA, APREA, AREF, BOMA, BPF, CFMA, CoreNet Global, CREFC, EPRA, NAIOP, OSCRE, PFA and RICS.

The Survey

The Survey document is a summary of all the data collected and presents key trends across the regions on employee demographics and DEI programs.

Click the image below or here to download the Survey.

 

High-level summary includes:

Almost all commercial real estate firms have diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in place in their organizations, with the number of firms adopting formal strategies increasing 5% year-over-year, according to the third edition of the Global Real Estate DEI Survey released today.

The Global Real Estate DEI Survey shows almost 96% of firms have DEI policies and practices in place in their firms, with 56.4% enacting formal strategies. That marks a 5% YoY increase in firms approving documented, holistic DEI programs. Just 4.2% of firms do not have DEI programs or initiatives, the results reveal.

  • The Global Real Estate DEI Survey, now supported by 19 commercial real estate industry associations globally, tracked DEI practices and employee demographics at 216 firms and was conducted between July and September 2023.
  • The Survey represents 296,902 full-time real estate employees, $1.98 trillion of assets under management and a cross-section of the commercial real estate industry globally in terms of size, region and business type.

Key highlights from the Global Real Estate DEI Survey show commercial real estate firms are increasingly focused on attracting more underrepresented people to the industry as a whole – with 31.6% of firms saying the most impactful DEI policy in 2023 was creating scholarships and internships to increase diversity in candidate pools, up from just 18% of firms the year prior.

In terms of employee demographics, headline data shows the representation of women in commercial real estate ranged from 39.8% to 45.6% across the four regions surveyed, which comprise Asia-Pacific, Europe, Canada and the US.

Note: YoY changes throughout could be the result of changes in the sample of responding firms.

In Europe, which represents11.9% of respondents, key highlights include:

  • 39.8% of all commercial real estate roles in Europe are held by women, with women making the most gains in 2023 at the executive management.
  • 25.4% of executive management roles are held by women, up from 12.9% in the year prior.
  • European firms also actively hired and promoted women for the most senior roles in their organizations in 2023. At the executive management and senior level, firms promoted and hired more women than was currently represented helping to move the needle on representation YoY. See the attached PDF for more details.

 

 

 

 

Tags

News Article Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Author

Clare Whyte

Clare Whyte

Head of Marketing & Events, AREF

Clare is responsible for all aspects of the planning, development and execution of the marketing strategy for AREF. 

Clare leads on event management, liaising with committees and members to schedule, plan and deliver an effective events calendar for the association.  She also has overall responsibility for brand, as well as the design, development and production of marketing across both digital and offline channels, including the website.  

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