Agency job vacancies catapult property sector into top 15

Job vacancies in the property industry rank among the 15 top sectors in the country, new figures reveal.

Analysis of adverts posted on jobs site Indeed.com by Claims.co.uk showed there were more than 3,000 vacancies in ‘real estate’ last month.

Most of the 3,034 posts listed were added directly by employers, with just 209 advertised by recruitment agencies.

The industry with the most vacancies was healthcare with nearly 70,000 followed by retail and wholesale with around 33,500. Jobs listed in the property industry numbered more than other sectors including information technology, management and consulting, insurance and legal.

Jobs analysed in the research included part-time, temporary, contract and apprentice positions, as well as permanent posts.

Property jobs data published in May by Rayner Personnel suggested that half as many people want to be an estate agent than before the Covid pandemic.

The number of candidates seeking jobs in the sector fell from 9,866 before Covid struck in 2019 to 4,780, a drop of 49%, according to Rayner. A big decline began during spring last year, but the number of job seekers is still shrinking month on month – although job vacancies usually remains around 2,500 at any given time.

Industry analysis

Anthony Hesse, MD of Property Personnel, (pictured) said: “I have been in this business nearly 34 years, and this is the hardest I have known it to find staff.

He said there was a number of reasons causing the hiatus in recruitment, including a low unemployment rate and a drop in the number of graduate entrants. There was also a stagnation with agents staying in their jobs, and a growth in the number of self-employed brokers.

Josh Rayner, CEO of Rayner Personnel, (pictured) said: “The housing market boom has also caused a boom in estate agency vacancies. As agents have become busier and earnings potential has heightened, savvy candidates are moving with the money.

“The consequence is that liquidity in the recruitment market is at its greatest level in my memory and employers are having to invest in strong packages for the best people. Salaries are up and it’s become a job seekers’ market,” he said.

Andrew Deverell-Smith, CEO and founder of the deverellsmith group, (pictured) said: “Due to a saturated job market and smaller – than usual – search pools, the market condition has enabled candidates to request higher salaries and given employees the confidence to ask for pay reviews within their current roles.

“The market is demonstrating an unbalanced performance of supply vs demand, a negative implication for any industry.

“If you get salaries wrong, it can cost your business more in the long-run and disrupt your entire organisation; employees get complacent – or worse – dissatisfied as information is shared internally amongst staff. This results in the loss of not just one staff member but numerous!”

Pete Sheppard, managing director of Hintel (part of the deverellsmith group), said: “As the number of jobs outstrips the unemployed figure, businesses are forced to understand what they have to offer and why it benefits a potential applicant.

“Prospective employees want to know if the business which they are interviewing for has a clear direction, track record in the market, and how quickly they can perform with the skills that everyone else possesses in that position has.