Women realtors dominate the industry
Today, women represent the industry majority in the United States, making up 67% of realtors. When compared to the male-dominated industry of the 20th century, this uptick is a big win for females in real estate. A typical realtor nowadays is a 54-year-old white female who is a homeowner and college educated. Although female representation is high, the industry does have room for improvement.
Rise in single female homeownership
Homeownership for single women is on the rise, with single females being 5% more likely to own a home than their single male counterparts. Additionally, the same study found that single women represent more than double the amount of owner-occupied homes as single men do in every major U.S. city. With single females as a leading group in homeownership, women realtors may have a unique advantage with this demographic, based on the potential for shared experiences and perspectives.
Women in commercial real estate need more representation
Although women currently dominate the real estate industry as a whole, they only make up 36.7% of the commercial real estate workforce, and this number hasn’t significantly changed over the past 15 years. With commercial real estate remaining a male majority, this trend highlights an area where more women of diverse backgrounds can make an impact.
A staggering gender pay gap still exists
It’s an unfortunate reality that a pay gap exists between genders in most industries, and the same holds true for both real estate and commercial real estate. In 2020, women brokers and sales agents made 69 cents to a man’s dollar for the same job. This gap is narrowed to 92 cents to the dollar at the management level in real estate.
A study by CREW Network discovered that within commercial real estate, the salary gap between males and females lies at about 10%, or 90 cents to a man’s dollar, but the most astonishing gap occurs for bonuses and commission at nearly 56%. Overall, these numbers demonstrate that much can still be done to achieve pay equality for women.
The pay gap is worse for women of color
When it comes to women of color in commercial real estate, the pay gap is even wider. It’s reported that Asian women make 86 cents, Black women make 85 cents and Latinx/Hispanic women make 80 cents to every dollar made by a man. This trend demonstrates that pay equality for diverse women in real estate should be a focus for the future.
Women are advancing their careers
Despite females holding a majority in the industry, real estate leadership is not always representative of this. A report found women currently occupy only 9% of C-level positions in commercial real estate, but about 32% of women realtors have their sights set on the C-suite. This number is a 4% increase in women who aspire toward the executive level in the past five years.
