How Many Jobs Are Available In Real Estate Investment Trusts? A Comprehensive Analysis (2024)

Over the previous decade, the global prevalence of real estate investment trusts (REITs) has exponentially increased. Traditionally, investing in real estate required significant funds, which made it a challenging prospect for general consumers and citizens.

However, modern REITs dramatically lower the barriers to entry as the funds pool small amounts of capital from many different investors.

As of 2023, there are 330.000 jobs available in real estate investment trusts, with experts predicting the industry to continue its growth over the coming decade. More than 3.5 million indirectly related REIT positions are advertised on global recruitment platforms.

Modern REITs have become increasingly influential, important, and desirable in most economies worldwide as they offer private investors the opportunity to positively diversify their portfolios without exposing themselves to additional risk or effort.

The ever-expanding international REIT markets will create unparalleled wealth, career, and diversification possibilities for millions globally.

Understanding The Structure And Functions Of REITs

Most industry experts agree that modern REITs employ a simplistic business model. Essentially, REITs operate and own income-producing property, with the generated income or dividends being distributed among numerous shareholders.

Popular and profitable REIT funds are considered to function similarly as traditional mutual funds are known to. Individual or retail investors must combine their accumulated capital to purchase a fractional share of the REIT fund, with the income generated being distributed to shareholders in the form of recurring dividend payments.

While most modern and respectable REIT trusts are comparable to the ever-reliable mutual funds regarding how they are structured, operated, and owned, there are several fundamental differences.

Under United States and European law, all REIT trusts must distribute at least 90% of the year’s final taxable profit amount, allowing investors to maintain a reliable and growing cash flow positive income.

Despite most people assuming REIT funds are exclusively associated with lucrative residential properties, the largest companies have branched into larger apartment complexes, hotels, and business complexes.

Some REITs have raised eyebrows with their controversial entry into critical public infrastructure properties, which include mobile phone towers, city pipelines, and power stations.

Before risking your hard-earned money investing in a suspiciously high-yielding REIT trust, it is important to research and ensure sufficient due diligence. As innovative REIT trusts continue expanding their operational and financial reach, distinct types have emerged. Potential investors can purchase fractional shares in equity-based, hybrid, or mortgage REITs.

Equity REITs are the most common type of trust, with its directors ensuring the fund exclusively invests in various forms of applicable properties. Mortgage REITs direct their human and financial resources toward profitable mortgage loans.

Hybrid REITs are considered a combination of REIT trusts; however, the weighting differs depending on the company, strategy, and economic outlook.

Over the last two decades, the most profitable REITs have consistently demonstrated their ability to raise capital through their preexisting unit holders. Once the REITs have collected sufficient money from numerous fractional investments, the trust will immediately purchase the advertised property.

Job Categories In REITs

In 2023, the number of available jobs in the REIT industry remains staggering, with more than 330.000 direct and 3.5 million indirect jobs currently being advertised.

While there are countless ways to land your first job within the high-paying global REIT market sector, skills such as investment and acquisition qualifications greatly benefit your future career outcomes. Additionally, many revered REIT companies are attempting to recruit thousands of qualified asset managers, finance and accounting specialists, and legal and compliance experts.

Investment and Acquisition

While many important job titles and responsibilities fall under the broad definition of modern REITs, investment and acquisition managers are considered among the most critical.

An investment manager or analyst based in a profitable REIT is directly responsible for thoroughly analyzing and researching various appropriate financial investment opportunities. While investment managers have a wide scope of accountability, they are mainly responsible for explicitly evaluating current market and property trends.

In addition, investment analysts must undertake an applicable due diligence process, which will allow them to accurately calculate the long-term profitability and viability of the proposed properties.

Investment managers need to have sufficient experience and expertise, enabling them to accurately assess current and future market trends in accordance with all provided financial data.

Investment managers working with large REITs are directly responsible for initially identifying an appropriate property. Once the investment analyst has identified several appropriate property locations, they must undertake extensive market research, financial analysis, portfolio performance analysis, future investment recommendations, and crucial market intelligence.

At the same time, acquisition managers are tasked with initially identifying applicable properties provided by the in-house investment analyst before executing various real estate transactions. Most modern acquisition managers working with large global REITs must negotiate all financial aspects of the deal, ensuring the entire process runs smoothly.

Acquisition managers or analysts are liable for accurately executing and evaluating the property provided by the investment analyst, ensuring it is aligned with the REITs fundamental business and investment strategies.

The most successful REIT acquisition managers have demonstrated outstanding deal sourcing capabilities, negotiation tactics, valuation abilities, and sufficient due diligence management.

Once all parties have accepted the proposed deal, the acquisition manager is responsible for accurately executing the deal and managing the customer’s long-term relationship with the business.

Asset Management

Asset managers working with influential REITs worldwide are fundamentally responsible for critical ongoing property management, operations, lease management, and yearly capital expenditure.

All asset managers working with powerful REITs are vital to the businesses’ operational, strategic, and long-term successes, as they are liable for all significant capital outlays, planning, and implementation.

Most industry experts agree that asset management is an indispensable job category throughout profitable REITs globally. It is worth noting that REITs function as financial assets, generating monthly income and requiring enormous initial capital investments, demonstrating the importance of hiring a capable and experienced asset manager.

As with most financial industry companies, asset managers aim to increase the total value of the property under management. By ensuring the property’s intrinsic value continues growing while guaranteeing a positive monthly cash flow, asset managers allow REITs to function optimally, satisfying executives and shareholders.

Globally, successful asset management within a REIT business structure requires managers to continuously monitor the operational and current financial performance of the properties owned by the company. Furthermore, asset managers are responsible for strategic and accurate decision-making, allowing REITs and their shareholders to maximize their profitability.

However, being a REIT asset manager is daunting for inexperienced individuals as their daily and broad responsibilities are endless. It is known that most asset managers must undertake a detailed market analysis and research process for each property under management while identifying property enhancement initiatives to increase monthly rental income.

Responsibilities such as risk management, portfolio diversification, forecasting, budgeting, and capital expenditure usually fall under asset managers’ job descriptions. The asset manager must consult with construction teams and property managers before expending a significant portion of the business’s dedicated capital.

It is vital to invest the capital wisely as it must accurately account for the properties’ long-term maintenance expenditure requirements while guaranteeing continued asset appreciation. To be a successful asset manager, you should thoroughly understand risk management, the local real estate market, strategic business decisions, and financial analysis.

Finance And Accounting

Over the last decade, it has become abundantly clear that the finance and accounting department performs the most important role within all REITs, especially larger, more influential, and more powerful competitors.

Essentially, the finance and accounting department within REITs globally is tasked with appropriately handling all the important financial aspects of the business.

While the finance and accounting department has a broad scope of responsibilities, they are liable for performance analytics, creating financial statements, and providing data directly impacting strategic decision-making.

As with most successful companies worldwide, the REITs finance and accounting team must prepare legally compliant income statements, balance sheets, broader financial reports, and crucial monthly cash flow statements. Accurate financial analysis enables shareholders and company executives to thoroughly understand the REIT’s financial performance and health.

The finance and accounting team working with large REITs provides annual financial forecasts and budgets, enabling executives and shareholders to anticipate upcoming opportunities or difficulties.

Importantly, the finance and accounting team distributes over 90% of the REIT’s yearly profits to their shareholders as dividends. By law, all REITs must distribute most of their profits to their shareholders, distinguishing them from traditional mutual funds.

It is accepted that tax compliance and planning are additionally challenging for the finance and accounting department to successfully navigate, mainly due to REITs’ unique business structuring. However, by utilizing their experience, knowledge, and expertise, finance and accounting teams can maximize their legal tax benefits while simultaneously implementing optimized taxation strategies.

Finance and accounting teams working alongside REITs are expected to undertake continuous financial analysis, ensure auditing compliance, appropriately manage company debt, track key performance metrics, and perform financial due diligence.

Within REITs of all sizes, the finance and accounting department is critical to the business’s long-term success or imminent failure. Hiring experienced and capable employees for this role is non-negotiable, as their knowledge is undeniably crucial regarding the business’s ability to stay informed, create additional investor value, and accelerate growth.

Legal And Compliance

Experienced legal and compliance teams working within REITs of all sizes globally are vital to the company’s sustained profitability as they oversee contract negotiations, ensure regulatory compliance, and maintain appropriate corporate governance policies.

But, the legal and compliance departments usually operate separately within influential global REITs. The legal team is employed to ensure the REIT always functions and operates well within the scope of the local law.

While it is known that legal teams in most finance-sector businesses have an incredibly wide scope of responsibilities, REIT-based legal professionals retain their focus on several key aspects. Fundamentally, a REIT legal department is trusted to account for all complex aspects associated with frequent property transactions.

The legal team must guarantee sustained regulatory compliance or the REIT could sustain severe financial losses, resulting in bankruptcy for executives and shareholders.

Legal teams are consulted by company executives regarding corporate governance policies, litigation management, intellectual property rights, contractual undertakings, and applicable employment laws.

At the same time, the compliance team forms a central role concerning risk mitigation, maintaining the REITs stellar reputation, and guaranteeing employee and customer satisfaction. While the legal and compliance teams have similar job descriptions and responsibilities, they must work in harmony to avoid an unforeseen yet rapid company implosion.

A well-functioning legal compliance team within a REIT will maintain suitable regulatory adherence, which safeguards the company, prevents it from being exposed to unnecessary legal risk, and guarantees long-term shareholder value.

Some compliance officers are tasked with drafting, amending, or implementing internal company policies. Once the internal policies are accepted and ingrained within the REIT working environment, compliance officers must audit and monitor the program’s effectiveness.

Regulatory challenges such as company data security and privacy, legal reporting, employee compliance training, know-your-customer compliance, and anti-money laundering fall under the compliance teams’ responsibilities, demonstrating their unique importance.

Despite the exceptional costs of hiring the most experienced, capable, and knowledgeable legal and compliance teams, they will undoubtedly ensure the REIT spends less money over the long term, does not face unnecessary legal proceedings, maintains an appropriate corporate structure, and increases its shareholder’s investment.

Investor Relations And Marketing

Most modern and successful REITs comprise an experienced, capable, and formidable investor relations and marketing team.

Despite investor relations and marketing teams falling under the same job description, they serve two distinct yet notable roles within highly profitable REITs. Usually, the internal investor relations department is tasked with effectively managing all relationships and communications with past, current, and future investors.

Essentially, the investor relations department is successful when they provide consistently accurate, appropriate, and timely information that can positively or negatively influence the investor’s financial outcomes.

The highest-paid investor relations departments globally demonstrate beneficial daily interactions with influential analysts, individual shareholders, and occasionally institutional investors. The department and its team are also responsible for creating impactful roadshows, conferences, meetings, and yearly financial results presentations.

The marketing department works in conjunction with the investor relations team. However, the marketing department focuses its resources, skills, time, and attention on appropriately promoting the company’s current and future REIT properties to potential investors.

Traditionally, marketing departments do not work with company capital. Yet, they fulfill a crucial role within profitable REITs since they create public and investor awareness while attempting to attract viable tenants to the properties they currently own and manage.

Marketing teams within enormous REITs undertake consistent and up-to-date market research, allowing company executives to decide if the properties will become financially feasible. While advertising and creating awareness of upcoming properties, the most sought-after marketing departments permanently enhanced their company’s public brand globally.

Research And Market Analysis

It is worth noting that due to the unique organizational and business structure of profitable REITs, numerous jobs involve research and market analysis.

Innovative, accurate, and consistent research and market analysis is among the most critical components for any REIT aiming to sustain long-term profitability. Useful and accurate research and market analysis, usually undertaken by a certain number of capable individual employees, allows executives and investors to make informed financial decisions.

If the research and market analysis is incorrect or inaccurate, REITs, their stakeholders, and shareholders could incur devastating and permanent financial losses. Moreover, investors and executives with accurate and timely market data can implement uniquely effective strategies while consistently identifying critical market trends and profitable opportunities.

Currently, there are ten job categories within profitable REITs globally, involving some form of research and market analysis responsibilities. However, the market research manager, in-house financial analyst, and real estate research analyst usually incur most of the company’s responsibilities.

Asset management analysts, investment analysts, data analysts, and market strategists perform crucial roles concerning the REIT’s research and market analysis requirements. Depending on the size of the REIT, the department may consist of several dedicated teams, while smaller businesses opt for an additionally individualized and generalized approach.

Skills And Qualifications For REIT Jobs

It is worth noting that the global REIT industry is similar to the traditional financial system, resulting in the required skills and qualifications varying significantly.

The skills and qualifications demanded by the ever-expanding worldwide REIT industry continue to expand, meaning thousands of applicable job titles and categories are available to interested individuals. However, people with experience, knowledge, and higher-level qualifications are in the highest demand, with influential REITs willing to pay millions to retain their critical services.

Despite financial, marketing, and accounting qualifications being the most practical for people aiming to enter the thriving worldwide REIT industry, soft skills such as effective negotiation abilities and admirable communication expertise are becoming increasingly valuable to powerful employers.

While the scope and scale of the REIT industry’s available jobs remain noteworthy, individuals with valuable real estate knowledge, specific regulatory experience, effective negotiation and communication abilities, and a thorough understanding of financial risk management are in high demand from REIT companies of all sizes.

The largest and most influential REITs seek to hire people of any demographic or skill level with industry-specific experience, appropriate soft skills, and a commendable work ethic despite their lack of higher education qualifications.

Currently, thousands of REIT industry internships and entry-level positions are reserved for people without experience or professional qualifications.

It is worth noting that the worldwide REIT industry has experienced exponential growth over the previous five years, with experts predicting the trend to continue and accelerate in developing nations.

The industry’s unprecedented expansion has resulted in companies of all sizes widening their employment net, creating thousands of well-paying jobs for deserving individuals.

However, higher-paying positions such as investment managers, property managers, real estate analysts, asset managers, accountants, and financial analysts require acceptable higher education qualifications or certificates, as it is illegal to employ an unqualified individual in a professional financial-industry position.

The REIT Industry’s Growth Potential

The short and long-term REIT industry growth prospects and outlook remain unanimously positive, with the financial market demonstrating incredible resistance to significant political, social, and economic pressures.

Most industry experts agree that REITs’ growth potential is positive globally, with numerous modern and innovative implementations dramatically enhancing the already-positive projections. The sustained success of REITs over the previous decade has encouraged private and institutional investors to diversify their portfolios by adding a reliable and consistent monthly cash flow component.

The global success and growth of REITs have resulted in some companies expanding their investments and operations into healthcare facilities, commercial properties, local infrastructure, and valuable data centers. Experts predict the diversification trend will continue with rapidly expanding population growth within urbanized areas.

An exciting and unpredictable growth factor is the recent introduction of artificial intelligence into the REIT and real estate industries. It is predicted that artificial intelligence combined with traditional technological innovations will be the REIT industry’s catalyst to permanent financial sustainability, enticing countless new private and retail investors.

Other socioeconomic factors, such as unexpected demographic changes, climate change, and sustainability initiatives, will negatively impact certain economic sectors. However, REITs will remain unaffected as their business models, operational procedures, and innovative practices align with the most stringent modern societal standards.

Importantly, the largest growth factor is the sustained worldwide REIT industry expansion. A relatively new introduction into archaic financial sectors, REITs have demonstrated their resilience, profitability, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability to individual and retail investors over the last five years.

Globally, REITs are becoming more prevalent for business owners and investors of any financial standing.

The REIT Industry’s Job Market And Outlook

Anyone aiming to obtain a sufficient and reliable income source should seek any job title within major REIT companies, with the job market and outlook being incredibly positive.

People with higher education qualifications and experience within the finance, real estate, sustainability, marketing, and technology industries are usually associated with higher-paying and additionally influential job titles.

This is due to the REIT industry favoring employees with sufficient knowledge in asset management, property management, developments and acquisitions, finance, and accounting, as those job titles are considered by most to be the critical factor regarding the company’s unrivaled success or imminent failure.

As with many industries, technological, political, and other socioeconomic factors will influence the REIT industry’s future job market and outlook, making it important to keep up to date with the latest trends to experience a sustained, fulfilling, and financially lucrative career.

Challenges And Opportunities In REIT Jobs

Despite REITs demonstrating remarkable resilience to social, economic, and political upheaval, the industry will experience numerous challenges and opportunities over the coming years.

While there is no guarantee, the probability of these trends emerging into global markets over the coming years is high.

1. Complex environmental, social, and governance considerations will require additional company resources.
2. Property technology (Proptech). Technology will become increasingly influential, significantly favoring innovative REIT companies.
3. Virtual and digital real estate platforms. Digital real estate platforms have recently emerged, with industry adoption and disruption predicted high.
4. Flexible spaces and remote work. REITs must adapt to modern remote workers and flexible workspaces, which will lower their fixed costs and increase profitability. However, maintaining and implementing company culture is challenging.
5. Impactful regulatory alterations.
6. Technological and artificial intelligence Adoption and prevalence.
7. Global and local market volatility.
8. Difficulty attracting and retaining top talent.

Conclusion

Over the last decade, REITs have become incredibly popular globally due to their reliable and positive monthly cash flow, high yields, ease of access, and unanimously positive outlook. Industry experts predict REITs to continue their exponential growth, with their economic, social, and real estate industry contributions becoming additionally significant and influential each year.

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