Commercial Real Estate Recruitment Agency

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is a UK company that owns and operates income-producing real estate and qualifies for a tax regime that exempts rental profits and gains on property disposals from corporation tax, subject to meeting conditions. UK REITs are governed by Part 12 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010, requiring that 75 per cent of gross assets and income relate to the property rental business, that at least 90 per cent of property income is distributed, and that the REIT is listed on a recognised stock exchange (with a simplified regime for private REITs following 2022 reforms). Major UK listed REITs include British Land, Land Securities, SEGRO, Hammerson, Unite Students, LondonMetric, Derwent London, Great Portland Estates and Tritax Big Box.

GRESB is the ESG benchmark for real estate and infrastructure, used by institutional investors to screen and compare the sustainability performance of real estate funds and portfolios. GRESB's Real Estate Assessment scores participants across Management and Performance components, feeding into capital allocator decisions at fundraise, secondary trading and disposal. Senior CRE asset management, sustainability and capital markets roles increasingly require live GRESB submission experience. We verify submission delivery on every relevant brief.

Two distinct CRE functions. Investment (or capital markets) covers the acquisition and disposal of real estate assets and portfolios, typically advised on by the major advisory houses (CBRE, JLL, Savills, Knight Frank) and executed by REITs, fund managers and institutional investors. Asset management covers the ongoing operation and value creation on already-owned assets: leasing strategy, refurbishment, repositioning, net zero retrofit and disposal preparation. They are distinct candidate pools with distinct pay benchmarks, and senior CRE careers typically specialise into one or the other.

Broad 2026 market ranges. Graduate Surveyor (CRE route) 30 to 40 thousand. Senior Surveyor 50 to 72. Associate Director 75 to 110. Director 100 to 160 plus, typically with meaningful bonus and deal-share components. Head of Asset Management, Head of Investment, Head of Sustainability 120 to 220 plus depending on entity scale. Real Estate Fund Manager 130 to 260 plus. Graduate Analyst (CRE fund or REIT) 35 to 55. Investment Analyst 55 to 85. Vice President 90 to 150. London and major CRE HQ premiums apply. Total compensation in capital markets and fund management can materially exceed base salary through bonus and carry, and our briefs capture that.

BTR is Build to Rent, the UK investment category covering purpose-built institutional rental housing (typically large urban blocks, increasingly also Single Family Rental) designed, funded and held for long-term rental income rather than sold to individual buyers. UK BTR is driven by institutional capital (fund managers, REITs and specialist platforms including Grainger and Quintain). Build-for-sale residential is the traditional UK housebuilder model. BTR requires specialist investment, development and asset management expertise, and the candidate pool is tight because the asset class was institutional-scale only from the mid-2010s onward.

PBSA is Purpose Built Student Accommodation, purpose-designed, professionally-managed student housing let directly to students or through university nomination agreements. UK PBSA is dominated by listed operators and fund managers (Unite Students, Empiric Student Property, Scape Living, IQ, Host, Downing Students). The specialism has distinct operational, letting and seasonal cash-flow characteristics, differentiated pricing and yield drivers, and requires investment and asset management candidates with specific PBSA track record.

The UK commercial real estate advisory market is led by the major global and UK advisory houses (including CBRE and JLL) operating full-service capabilities across investment, valuation, agency, asset management, building surveying, project management and consulting. Alongside them sits a strong tier of specialist and mid-sized practices serving distinct market segments. We brief across the full tier.

The IPF (Investment Property Forum) is the leading UK professional body for commercial property investment professionals, providing research, networks and education focused on the investment side of UK real estate. RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) is the statutory professional body for chartered surveyors more broadly, covering the full range of surveying disciplines (Commercial Real Estate, Valuation, Building Surveying, Quantity Surveying, Planning and Development, etc.). Many senior UK CRE investment professionals hold both MRICS and IPF membership.

Yes, across all three channels: listed UK REITs, institutional fund managers and CRE advisory houses (including CBRE and JLL). The full UK advisory consultancy tier and the full institutional capital and listed REIT layer sit within our brief map.

Yes. Our CRE desk has dedicated coverage across the specialisms driving current UK capital flows: Build to Rent (BTR) and Single Family Rental, Life Sciences real estate (Oxford-Cambridge Arc, London cluster), Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), Logistics real estate (big-box, last-mile, cold storage) and Data Centre real estate (hyperscale and colocation). Candidates with live scheme delivery evidence in each specialism are in strong demand.

Yes, across all three. Permanent placements are the majority of our volume. Contract cover is common on valuation surge periods, portfolio transaction peaks, GRESB submission windows, and specialism-led scheme delivery. Interim Head of Asset Management, Head of Investment and Director placements are used on post-acquisition team integration, senior cover pending permanent hire, and standing up new specialist teams in BTR, Life Sciences or Data Centre real estate.