Real estate has a problem. Due to its old-fashioned and ‘old boys’ club’ atmosphere, it cannot hire the brightest and the best, according to leading headhunters.

Outdated image: the perception that property is an ‘old boys’ club’ has put a brake on recruitment from a more diverse range of applicants

The latest data from executive search firm Madison Lincoln shows the industry is facing a hidden time bomb as job-seekers from graduate to senior executive level eschew real estate for better-paid and more rewarding sectors.

Madison Lincoln’s data shows that in the property sector, it now takes nine months from initiating a search to having a senior leader actually in position. That means businesses just beginning a recruitment process now are unlikely to see the post filled until towards the end of Q1 2026.

According to the firm, this could affect how that organisation operates in the market. “This long lag is quietly paralysing the sector,” says Tom McNally, managing director at Madison Lincoln. “Leadership gaps are stretching teams thin, boards are stalling on strategy and pressure is building behind the scenes. Most don’t realise that if you’re starting to think about hiring now, you’re already late.”

McNally notes a marked shift across the executive real estate recruitment landscape, with almost all organisations and candidates being cautious, wary of instability and showing “no appetite for risk”.

McNally says the result is an anaemic hiring market that is not just slowing companies down but damaging their ability to stay competitive.

Waiting is not playing it safe

McNally adds that companies often believe their traditional approach to hiring staff has worked for decades, so why tinker with it? “People think they’re playing it safe by waiting, but what’s actually happening is the talent they’ll need next year is slipping through their fingers now,” he says. “The market may seem slow but, underneath, pressure is mounting.”

McNally is far from the only headhunter concerned by the real estate industry’s attitudes to hiring. Hugo Healing, partner and head of real estate at Odgers Berndtson, the UK’s largest executive search group, believes the sector’s traditional approach is preventing it from wooing the best candidates.

This time lag [with recruitment] is quietly paralysing the sector
Tom McNally, Madison Lincoln

“We’ve been in a tight market for arguably the past two or three years and I think the client community gets more risk averse,” says Healing. “They want very round pegs for very round holes. The challenge with real estate is it’s always been risk averse and traditional in how it recruits. I have to push clients to keep the lens wide. That’s something that real estate has always suffered from.”

McNally adds that delaying leadership appointments has a compounding effect on business strategy. “The impact of not filling this role may be low today, but the cost of
not filling it will be very high tomorrow,” he says. “These are not theoretical roles; they directly affect revenue, delivery, stability and growth plans.”

Healing also highlights that since the Covid-19 pandemic, the recruitment market has swung in favour of candidates, largely because the very best have more options to choose from.

He adds: “They want to know what the company strategy is, whether the business is well capitalised, whether they’re going to be leading a high-performing team or are going to have the budget to recruit and change the team. There’s a lot more due diligence being done on the part of candidates and sometimes clients forget that.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say this makes searches take longer; I would just say they’re harder.”

Career opportunities: job candidates now have more options so carry out extensive due diligence on potential employers

Andrew Deverell-Smith, founder and chief executive of real estate recruitment group Deverell Smith, believes there is another temptation for candidates, especially those being courted for executive roles.

Based in Dubai, Deverell-Smith refers to a “brain drain” from the UK real estate market as “good people like to build big projects, do deals and keep busy, and there’s just more opportunity to do all those things here”.

He adds: “We are building our business in the Middle East and our phone is ringing every day with UK real estate folk saying: ‘Can you facilitate a move over there for me?’ On the one hand, that’s exciting for firms like us, but on the other that’s quite concerning, because there’s a brain drain from the UK real estate market.

“I don’t really care what asset class you’re in; just look at how hard it is to secure land in the UK, find funding and secure planning. It’s a five-year journey. Good people want to do stuff, not wait around trying to do stuff.”

It is not only at C-suite level that the sector suffers from these recruitment issues, adds Healing. Graduates are also turning away from real estate in favour of more dynamic industries.

Diversity blocker

Healing says: “The old boys’ network is wonderful for me, because I can get my arms around it and meet everyone, which is great. But in terms of promoting diversity into the sector, it’s not good.”

He adds that the real estate industry will “always lose out” to higher-paying sectors such as tech, because companies in those fields better understand what the next generation wants from employers.

He says younger job-seekers are keen to “de-risk everything” before they consider joining an organisation.

“Much is made about the next generation and what they want from life,” he says. “But I don’t think they’re selfish. I don’t believe people who say they [young employees] don’t work as hard. Their priorities are just different and they are looking to work in businesses that understand those values and it’s up to companies to inspire them to want to join.

“Rather than mandating five days a week in the office, they should be giving these people a reason to come in and be with their colleagues. The real estate industry has a history of not being very good at that.”

Whether it is attracting the next chief executive, filling the quota of annual graduates or retaining talent, there appears to be agreement on what the UK property sector has to do: modernise, broaden its candidate search and offer those candidates the sort of working environment they expect.

The days of celebrating the latest deal down the local boozer all afternoon are over. That is not on the wish lists of today’s brightest and best.