How Many Jobs Are Available in Real Estate Investment Trusts

Real estate makes up the largest (and oldest) asset class in the world. As such, it generates not only high returns on investment, but also an enormous number of jobs. 

Millions of investors around the world want to add real estate to their portfolios — but they don’t want to buy properties directly and become a landlord. Instead, they just log into their brokerage account and buy shares of REITs. 

Real estate investment trusts either own and operate properties or they own property-secured debts. And they all require work from many different specialists. 

If you’re considering them as a career path, your first question is probably “How many jobs are available in real estate investment trusts?” So, we decided to round up the top 10 best paying jobs in real estate investment trusts. 

Understanding Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

A REIT is a pooled investment fund that owns properties (equity REITs) or debts secured by real property (mortgage REITs or mREITs). Hybrid REITs own both properties and secured debts.

While it’s possible for equity REITs to own single-family homes, most own commercial properties such as multifamily apartment complexes, office buildings, industrial real estate, and others.

As an investor, you buy shares in a company that owns the underlying real estate assets. The SEC requires these companies to derive at least 75% of their income from real estate sales, rents, or interest, and have real estate (or secured debts) make up at least 75% of their assets. These companies must all also return at least 90% of their profits to investors in the form of dividends. 

Some REITs trade publicly on stock exchanges. That provides liquidity for investors, and lets them buy shares with relatively small amounts. It also adds volatility, and means that investors pay market pricing for shares at any given time. 

Private REIT issuers, such as some real estate crowdfunding platforms, sell shares directly to investors, and redeem shares when investors want to sell out. They don’t have the same liquidity, and sometimes require high minimum investments. These downsides can sometimes create better bargains for investors. Between 1972-2023, US publicly-traded REITs actually outperformed the S&P 500, averaging 12.7% and 10.2% respectively.

A REIT is a pooled investment fund that owns properties (equity REITs) or debts secured by real property (mortgage REITs or mREITs). Hybrid REITs own both properties and secured debts.

While it’s possible for equity REITs to own single-family homes, most own commercial properties such as multifamily apartment complexes, office buildings, industrial real estate, and others.

As an investor, you buy shares in a company that owns the underlying real estate assets. The SEC requires these companies to derive at least 75% of their income from real estate sales, rents, or interest, and have real estate (or secured debts) make up at least 75% of their assets. These companies must all also return at least 90% of their profits to investors in the form of dividends. 

Some REITs trade publicly on stock exchanges. That provides liquidity for investors, and lets them buy shares with relatively small amounts. It also adds volatility, and means that investors pay market pricing for shares at any given time. 

Private REIT issuers, such as some real estate crowdfunding platforms, sell shares directly to investors, and redeem shares when investors want to sell out. They don’t have the same liquidity, and sometimes require high minimum investments. These downsides can sometimes create better bargains for investors. 

Between 1972-2023, US publicly-traded REITs actually outperformed the S&P 500, averaging 12.7% and 10.2% respectively.

How Many Jobs Are Available in Real Estate Investment Trusts?

By one analysis, real estate investment trusts create over 3.2 million full-time jobs. Of those millions of jobs, which ones pay the best? Other estimates put the number of direct jobs in the REIT industry at 326,000, with the industry supporting and creating 3.4 million jobs indirectly. 

As an asset class, publicly-traded REITs boasted roughly $2 trillion in market capitalization by the end of 2023. That includes 940 public REITs listed on stock exchanges around the world. 

Those numbers don’t include private REITs, such as those managed by platforms like Fundrise. 

To give $2 trillion the respect it deserves, that’s $2,000,000,000,000. Money at that scale becomes conceptual, with none of us fully able to appreciate its scale. 

Suffice it to say that the REIT industry generates plenty of job opportunities. 

Top 10 Best Paying Jobs in Real Estate Investment Trusts

As you explore a career in the world of REITs, set your long-term sights on these high-paying positions.

1. Chief Executive Officer ($250,000 – $500,000+)

The big cheese earns the most cheddar, of course. And few workers in the REIT industry ever climb to these heights. 

These executives earn the big bucks because they make big decisions, day in and day out. Their decisions determine the success or failure of the REIT, its returns, and its ability to keep employing every other worker. 

In most cases, CEOs bring at least 20 years of experience to the job. They have worked many roles in multiple departments, and understand the business from the ground up. 

To succeed as a chief executive of a REIT, a person must have deep experience in real estate, investments, and finance of course. But they must also bring years (or more likely decades) or leadership experience. They must know how to hire and nurture the best people, how to maintain a highly profitable company without administrative bloat. They set goals, and then they coordinate every member of the organization to execute on those goals. 

2. Chief Finance Officer ($125,000 – $300,000+)

While a chief financial officer serves a crucial role in every organization, they especially matter in an investment company like a REIT. 

These executives oversee financial planning for the REIT, budgeting, and the real estate accounting teams. They coordinate with acquisition officers on financing and financial projections for new properties. That often includes building and maintaining relationships with lenders, regulatory agencies, and investors. 

Additionally, chief finance officers analyze the REIT’s financial data to look for trends, opportunities, and areas for improvement. They constantly aim to optimize the REIT’s finances. 

In short, they keep a finger on the pulse of every number and data point in an organization that lives or dies based on its fiscal numbers and performance. 

That in turn means they need deep experience, typically 15 years or more in finance. 

3. Chief Operating Officer ($100,000 – $300,000)

Chief operating officers keep the trains running on time in any organization. They manage senior leaders, ensuring that every team in the company delivers its key performance indicators. 

The role requires mastery in managing both systems and people. These officers must constantly optimize every system and process to streamline and automate as much as possible. As better systems free up more time for employees, COOs must then work with these teams to boost productivity from each member. 

In REITs, this includes optimizing processes for acquiring and underwriting properties or debts, managing them, and then eventually disposing of them for the highest possible profit. 

While these COOs don’t necessarily need to come from the real estate industry, it certainly helps to have industry-specific knowledge and expertise. 

4. Real Estate Acquisition Specialist ($100,000 – $200,000)

Someone has to actually find all the properties or debts that a real estate investment trust buys.

The role requires plenty of niche skills however. They often scout for distressed properties, and aim to buy properties pre-foreclosure. Acquisition specialists must know the real estate industry inside and out, and know how to navigate the world of liens, encumbrances, entitlements, buildings codes, permits, and leases. Which will break a deal, and which can be negotiated or removed? 

In many cases, property acquisition experts physically walk the grounds of properties. The job may involve some travel, scouting out prospective properties and deciding whether to pitch them to the senior management. 

Ideally, real estate acquisition officers have some background in data science to filter and find outstanding deals amidst the noise of thousands of properties. A bachelor’s degree in finance doesn’t hurt either, although it’s not always necessary. 

Acquisition specialists often get paid for performance, with a combination of a salary and bonuses or commissions for identifying outstanding deals. That can lead to a wide range of incomes, depending on your skill level and performance. 

5. Real Estate Investment Analyst ($75,000 – $130,000)

Investment analysts work closely with the acquisition team to vet and underwrite potential investments. Most analysts have a bachelor’s degree in finance, business, accounting, or investment management. 

These professionals review the numbers for any prospective investment. They work out financial projections for both income and expenses, years into the future. It requires an excellent understanding of local real estate markets and economic fundamentals, public policy, and macroeconomic risk. Additionally, they analyze the risk of any potential investment, and aim to quantify that risk. 

This analysis forms the foundation for an investment’s pro forma, and ultimately the REIT’s decision whether to proceed with an investment or not. 

6. Real Estate Attorney ($100,000 – $150,000+)

Real estate attorneys draft and review legal contracts, investment filings for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and coordinate closings for real estate transactions. They can also review debt-related legal documents, and coordinate with foreclosure specialists when borrowers default on secured debts. 

In the event of a legal dispute, staff attorneys often represent the REIT. If the dispute lies outside their expertise, they may liaise with a specialist legal firm. 

Ultimately, the job of a real estate lawyer is to keep the REIT operating within the bounds of the law — and the good graces of the SEC. 

You do of course need a law degree to practice as a real estate attorney. However working for a REIT can make for a fun and lucrative area of law to practice. Don’t expect a huge income by attorney standards, but the work is steady and engaging. Some REITs offer performance bonuses to their staff lawyers as well. 

7. REIT Marketing Manager ($80,000 – $150,000+)

Both publicly-traded and private REITs need to market themselves to investors if they want to grow. And someone needs to head up the marketing department. 

Marketing managers must combine both creativity and data analysis. They need to keep a close eye on the return on investment of every marketing channel, every marketing dollar spent. That helps them decide where to double down and where to pull back. 

But they also need to think outside the box, to experiment with new marketing strategies. In doing so, they can put their REIT in front of new prospective investors’ eyeballs — before their competition does. 

It certainly helps to have a degree in marketing or public relations, but you can also work your way higher through direct experience. Ultimately, the best marketers show measurable results. If you can prove that you’ll earn $1.50 for every marketing dollar spent, you justify not just your position, but your promotion. 

8. Real Estate Developer ($80,000 – $110,000+)

Property developers oversee construction projects, from initial planning to completion. For REITs who specialize in new construction, developers fill a crucial role. 

That starts with an understanding of local permitting, zoning, feasibility, encroachments, land entitlements, infrastructure, and other factors that can make or break a new construction project. But it certainly doesn’t end there. 

Developers must manage construction contractors, who are notoriously difficult to work with. They must keep teams of contractors on-budget and on-schedule, no easy feat. That includes coordinating many different specialists, from engineers to foundation crews to mechanical experts like electricians, plumbers, and HVAC specialists. Often developers subcontract out individual specialty jobs — and working with subcontractors comes with its own challenges.

In some ways, developers work primarily as project managers. They juggle many different teams and timelines to keep the project on schedule. 

It can prove enormously rewarding, overseeing the creation of something from nothing. And it takes a broad skill set and background that includes both project management and construction. 

9. Real Estate Agent ($75,000 – $110,000+)

Real estate investment trusts often work with agents and brokers to buy and sell properties. 

In many cases, these properties are worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Commercial real estate agents can earn a comfortable living, working with large, expensive properties. 

But Realtors who work with REITs must have excellent negotiating skills, and more than a passing familiarity with commercial real estate laws and regulations. These agents and brokers must also hone their marketing skills to a razor’s edge, being able to sell expensive properties quickly. 

And that says nothing of their local real estate market knowledge, which should be second to none. Real estate agents who work repeatedly or exclusively with REITs must know how to quickly evaluate any property’s fundamentals, and collaborate with acquisitions specialists and investment analysts to find and vet potential deals. 

Like residential real estate agents, commercial agents must be licensed in their state to practice.

10. Property Manager ($65,000 – $110,000+)

Every property in a real estate portfolio needs management. As property managers grow in skill and distinguish themselves, they move beyond the property level to start managing groups of properties, each with their own individual property manager. Eventually, they can rise to oversee the property management in entire regions for large REITs. 

Property managers must know how to manage people well, including leasing agents, contractors, handymen, groundskeepers, and more. They don’t need a degree, although it helps them rise above the property level. And commercial property managers do need plenty of hands-on experience. 

Real estate investment trusts measure property managers’ success by their occupancy rates, their average rents, and their ability to control operating expenses. The best property managers also get creative in proposing new ways to boost revenue, such as offering upgrades to tenants willing to pay a premium for amenities like covered parking. 

While property managers typically earn a fixed salary, some may receive bonuses for exceptional performance. 

Pros of Working for a REIT

Like every career, working for a real estate investment trust comes with its share of pros and cons. You can expect these benefits, working in the REIT industry. 

Opportunities for Advancement

As outlined above, REITs offer plenty of six-figure career options. Almost none of them require an advanced degree, and most don’t even require a college degree. 

Anyone willing to put in the work — both to become an expert in their field and to execute within it — can rise to the top of a REIT’s hierarchy. 

Opportunities for Performance Bonuses

In an industry where performance is everything, many REIT professionals get paid bonuses or commissions when they deliver well within their role.

Some, such as real estate agents, may get paid entirely on commission. There’s no ceiling to how much they can earn.  

Flexible Schedules

Likewise, many careers in real estate investment trusts allow flexibility, as long as you perform at a high level. 

As an acquisition specialist for example, your manager probably doesn’t care that you aren’t in front of your computer on Friday afternoon if you routinely find outstanding deals on properties. You’ll be judged based on your performance — not how many hours you sat in a chair. 

Greater Stability than Other Financial Markets

Sure, real estate values sometimes decline. But they don’t bounce around like stock prices do, creating a far more stable industry than the world of paper assets. 

Properties need management, whether the property value rises or falls that year. The same goes for virtually every role in REIT organizations. 

Diversity of Roles & Work

The day-to-day work of a property developer looks very different from that of a marketing manager. 

Love working with people? There are plenty of roles for you. Like physically visiting properties? You have options too. Prefer to work in an office? Plenty of the best paying jobs in real estate investment trusts fit that bill. 

Are There Downsides to Working for a REIT?

If there’s a downside to a career working for real estate investment trusts, it’s that market-related risks can cross over from the investment world into your livelihood. 

Real estate markets are cyclical, following a classic boom-bust cycle. Boom cycles offer fast advancement and seemingly endless opportunities. Bust cycles? Not so much. 

When property values dip, REIT performances suffer, and investors pull out their money. The REIT has less capital available for operations, and may need to lay off some staff members.

Interest rates also affect property values. When interest rates rise, so do cap rates, which hurts property values. Higher interest rates also pinch cash flow, both for new purchases and owned properties with variable-rate loans. 

The industry doesn’t contract as deeply as the stock world, but it can still sting when real estate falls out of favor with investors. 

Final Thoughts

How many jobs are available in real estate investment trusts? Hundreds of thousands, or over three million if you include adjacent jobs. 

From real estate attorneys to agents, property managers to marketing geniuses, real estate investment trusts offer plenty of career paths. And lucrative careers at that. 

Most jobs don’t require an advanced degree, or even a bachelor’s degree, but they do require industry experience. Insert yourself into the world of REITs, and once you get your foot in the door you can work towards one of the top 10 best paying jobs in real estate investment trusts.