Real Estate Jobs Grow 2.1% in Southern California

Southern California added more than 10,000 real estate jobs last month, mostly in construction.

Property-linked employment in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties hit a post-Great Recession high of 805,200 in October, up 10,200 for the month, the Orange County Register reported.

Real estate work grew locally by 16,300 jobs over 12 months, a gain of 2.1 percent.

The upswing represents a turnaround from last spring, when sluggish home sales across Southern California led to the loss of 4,600 real estate jobs in March, with hiring picking up in May.

The growth came despite higher interest rates. Higher financing costs have slowed residential sales and made some development projects unaffordable.

Local construction work grows because of giant infrastructure projects, according to the Register.

Other property-related work has been relatively stable, as many real estate workers are self-employed and not counted in state employment figures.

Across Southern California, work in all other industries hit a post-crash high with 7.3 million people on the payroll — up 88,200 jobs in a month. Over 12 months, non-real estate jobs were up 118,100, a gain of 1.6 percent.

The real estate job market was 9.9 percent of total employment last month. The industry’s hiring equaled 10 percent of all new local jobs for the month and 12.1 percent of Southern California hires for the year.

Since 2010, real estate-related jobs have equaled 9.7 percent of all Southland jobs and 12.7 percent of local hiring.

Work in the building, civil and construction trades grew 2.1 percent year-over-year in October, to 125,500 jobs. Work in specialty trades hired by contractors grew 3.2 percent year-over-year to 267,000 jobs.

Work in building services for commercial property operations grew 4.9 percent to 115,900 jobs.

At the same time, work in real estate lending grew 1 percent to 103,100 jobs, while jobs in real estate services fell 0.2 percent to 141,500 jobs.