office buildingsCommercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network has released its Benchmark Study Report which measured progress for women in the commercial real estate arena over an unprecedented decade long period. CREW Network enlisted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Real Estate as its independent research partner to survey, tabulate, analyze and produce the 2015 benchmark report.  The report focused on research, tracking and analyzing the areas of specialization, compensation and career achievement by gender.

Dawda Mann attorney Dana Kreis Glencer, current President of CREW-Detroit states, “The findings of the CREW Network Benchmark Study show that women are making strides in shrinking the gaps between men and women within the commercial real estate arena, however I am still troubled that the largest gap in income is between women and men with significant experience and in C-Suite positions.  I still believe there are significant opportunities for women in commercial real estate as well as great room for progress.  I am optimistic that the continued growth of women with experience in CRE will fuel significant change.”

Some of the results of the research include:

  • The commercial real estate industry still skews to white and male.
  • Both women and men report equivalent levels of satisfaction with their career success at the level of 59%.  For the first time in CREW Network surveying, women are exactly equivalent to men.
  • There are gender compensation gaps throughout all levels of age and experience. The gender pay gap is most marked as women move up the corporate ladder, where it hits a 6.1% difference.
  • In addition, there are distinct gender pay gaps in each of the following sectors: brokers, finance, asset management and developers. The median pay by gender are:

pay parity

 

  • There appear to be certain factors that contribute to the gender pay gap including the fact that women are far less likely to instigate a re-negotiation of their compensation than their male colleagues.
  • The sectors that are adding women are asset management and development, while the brokerage and finance sector have seen a decrease in their female population.
  • Brokerage is a hot button issue. The percentage of women in brokerage dropped markedly during this past decade from 39% to 29%. This is also the sector with the largest gender pay disparity.

You can read the entire CREW study here: https://crewnetwork.org/research/benchmark-studies/women-in-commercial-real-estate-2015.aspx