Pace of real estate hiring slows across Southern California

Sluggish home sales and construction in the wake of higher interest rates have pumped the brakes on Southern California real estate hiring.

Property-linked companies have cut their seasonal hiring pace by more than a third in March for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the Orange County Register reported, citing state employment figures.

Property-linked employment was 755,900 in March, up 2,200 jobs from February, a gain of 0.3 percent — but 36 percent off the normal seasonal pace. Before the pandemic, between 2015 and 2019, an average 3,460 jobs were added each March.

In the past year, local real estate work grew by 7,400 jobs — 46 percent fewer than the typical 13,800 jobs added each year since 2010, according to the Register.

The number of current real estate positions is 26,800 jobs below the recent employment peak in July 2022. Many people who work in the real estate industry are self-employed and aren’t tracked by government job counts.

Across the four counties in Southern California, the real estate share of total employment was 9.5 percent in March, and 11 percent of all new jobs since 2010, the end of the Great Recession.

At the same time, employment in all other sectors was 7.19 million workers in March, up 25,600 jobs in a month. Over 12 months, non-real estate jobs rose 1 percent to 69,500, the same growth rate as real estate.

Over the past 12 months, local jobs in specialist trade construction rose 2.9 percent to 248,800; jobs in building, civil engineering and construction rose 1.7 percent to 121,400 workers; jobs in lending fell 4.3 percent to 88,200; jobs in real estate services rose 0.1 percent to 138,200; jobs in building supplies fell 1.6 percent to 50,700 jobs; and jobs in building services rose 2.7 percent to 108,600, according to the Register.

At the same time, jobs in real estate fell 0.2 percent to 371,200 in Los Angeles County, while jobs in March rose 300 for the month, versus an average 1,100 hires.

Real estate jobs in the past year rose 1.09 percent to 213,700 in Orange County, while jobs in March were up 800 for the month, versus an average 500 hires.

Year-over-year real estate jobs in the Inland Empire rose 3.3 percent to 180,900, while jobs in March were up 1,100 for the month, versus an average 1,800 hires.

The sluggish growth in real estate jobs comes after a spike in hiring last fall, mostly in home construction, when local jobs hit a post-Great Recession high of 805,200.

— Dana Bartholomew

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