Real estate hiring in retreat
A deathly hush has fallen over commercial property lending recruitment as observers are wait to see if commercial property will follow the residential market's 15% fall over the year.
Marie Hunt, director of research at property consultants CB Richard Ellis, tells us, "Lack of funding is having a serious impact on investment and development."
Commercial property prices have fallen around 5% year on year, and total returns are already in negative territory.
James Hayes of Robert Walters confirms there's been "quite a slowdown" in the appetite for commercial property hires since October. Spooked banks have reportedly applied recruitment freezes in Ireland and are focusing their lending on mainland Europe instead.
The pain isn't universal. Anglo Irish Bank boasted a 17% increase in pre-tax profits for the first half of this year, at the same time reporting that activity in Ireland had "moderated significantly from the record levels of 2007". But then the bank's annual report shows it has 56% of its lending assets outside Ireland.
On a brighter note, Hayes says there's always a shortage of experienced property lending professionals.
But Rob Townsend, business manager at recruiter Abrivia, says that those with the experience don't want to move: "If there are redundancies, people always fear the last in will be the first out."
It's still a lucrative career option, however. Lending professionals with two years' experience can expect €150k on target earnings, on a basic of €60k.
