Verified Average Real Estate Broker Compensation (By Specialty) at a Big Five Firm in Top Ten Market By Specialization
It seems this question gets asked a lot but people never get a straight answer.
My numbers are from internally distributed pay data from one of the big four (CBRE, JLL, C&W, Colliers) international full service shops in Atlanta from the 2017 calendar year. Sorry, it's a bit out of date, but it is better than what's on here currently. There was no distinction made between agents focused on tenant rep vs investment sales (outside of multifamily of course).
Retail brokers- ~$225K
Multifamily brokers- somewhere close to but below Industrial but I forgot the number (260-270K?)
Industrial- ~290K
Office brokers- ~$310K
I am would imagine the relative success of each group is by and large the same across roughly the Top 15 or 20 Metros in the US.
Since 2017, retail has fallen further behind. While traditional office has its problems, most sunbelt markets are still healthy and subspecialties like healthcare and life sciences remain strong just about everywhere. Industrial and multifamily have gone on a tear and have almost certainly surpassed office.
Feel free to add your thoughts and ask any questions!
Real estate licks ass lol
Debt?
Debt origination is a completely different story that I don't have the answers to. That said, being on the debt brokerage side is generally worse in terms of pay for mid-career professionals. This is for real estate leasing and investment sales, no distinction was made between the two as people and teams often do both.
Is this after splits?
yes after splits, but this office has a reputation for high revenue per employee so it may be higher than the average of the top 5 shops in the city.
This has to be revenue per head rather than comp. Meaning how much a group is producing with how big of a team. So if a senior power broker produces $5mm in fees but he has a team of 12 analysts pumping out books, his revenue per head doesn’t look as good as a senior broker with $4mm in fees and 2 analysts.
Revenue per head is a super common way to measure performance of a service industry like banking, law, brokerage, etc. If you look at investment bank 10-ks they will show this as Revenue per banker so it excludes back office staff.
Nah this is comp. The shop (at least then) was rumored to have the highest revenue per office employee of any of the major players, so maybe it is a bit higher than the average of all five firms.
Ok still, so this is comp per broker… does that include analyst support? If so this is a great average considering the majority of “brokers” are support staff making less tham $150k
I think you're talking about transaction managers, and they are not on here. Basically, transaction managers negotiate the not-that-important leases on behalf of brokers so brokers can focus their time on business development. Transaction managers can still make some decent coin though, and also get the bulk of their comp via salary.
Analyst brokers would be included on here though. they are expected to work existing deals to free up time for the rainmakers while trying to get low-hanging fruit. This firm did hire some fresh-out college folks as analysts, and the averages are reflective of that.
If this is one of the big firms I’m not sure I follow. Every broker I have ever looked at a deal with has senior people who bring in deals and junior/mid level people who do all the bitch work (putting together comps/models/books, managing data room, managing feedback, etc). Some mid level people will also lead calls with potential buyers / lenders but they’re not the ones who brought in the deal. All of these junior / mid level people are supposed to work their way up the ladder to bringing in deals, but this doesn’t necessarily happen for like 5-7 years.
You’re describing this firm as a place where everyone is a “producer”… junior people on legit investment sales teams at HFF, JLL, CBRE, etc are not trying to bring in business at any point. It’s just not their job yet until they’ve had 5-10 years of executing and marketing deals.
If this were a place like Marcus and millichap where everyone is expected to produce, your comment makes sense
Mid career Debt broker pay is worse than mid career office and retail leasing brokers? You sure about that?
He's not sure about that.
Using standard deviation, I'm sure your average mid career debt broker is doing better than your average retail/is broker.
There's far more sales professionals than debt professionals, so this naturally makes sense.
When I said, " I don't have the answers." I meant it. I have very limited knowledge there but I gave it my best guess given the compensation some of my friends got working for a medium-sized debt brokerage shop.
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