The state of the hiring market in Real Estate Middle East
Andrew Deverell-Smith
By Andrew Deverell-Smith, Founder and Group CEO, The deverellsmith Group
Throughout my 20 years in the real estate hiring market, I have witnessed two shifts that have significantly changed the landscape. The first is technology, which has rewritten the speed, reach and transparency of how companies and talent find one another. The second is fluidity. The market is as open and as fast moving as I have ever seen it, and having businesses across three continents makes that unusually clear.
Has real estate itself really changed?
When I look across the businesses we run in the UK, the Middle East and the US, I see the same core disciplines across the globe. What differs is the pace, the capital, the regulation and, above all, the people. The job itself has not changed, but what has changed is the world the sector operates in.
Buildings still need to be funded, designed, built, sold, let and managed. The fundamentals of the sector are remarkably durable – it's all about the people who drive the industry forward.
Why is technology the biggest shift in real estate recruitment?
When I started my career, there was technology, but nothing like what we have today. The tools now shape how companies find talent, how candidates find opportunities, and how quickly both sides can move. A senior hire in Riyadh or Dubai can be identified, approached, assessed and closed in a fraction of the time it would have taken fifteen years ago. Information that used to be closely held is now available to anyone who knows where to look.
Hiring managers have more reach than ever, but so does every other employer in the real estate market who are all competing for the same talent and leadership. On the surface, technology has made hiring faster, more transparent and considerably more competitive. However, it does bring its downfalls, as AI now allows all candidates to produce 'the perfect CV’, it means the screening process can be even more complex and reliant on a human process.
The businesses that benefit from technology are the ones that treat it as leverage rather than a replacement for judgement. Data tells you who is out there. It does not tell you who will thrive in your culture, or who is genuinely ready for the step up. That part is still human work.
What does a fluid real estate market mean for your recruitment strategy?
Talent now moves between sectors, between disciplines and between regions with far less friction. The Gulf has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of that. Leaders who would once have spent an entire career in one city are now weighing up Dubai, Riyadh and London side by side, and they are making those decisions quickly.
For hiring managers, fluidity is an opportunity and a risk in equal measure. The pool of people you can realistically attract is wider than it has ever been. So is the pool of people who might attract your best performers away.
What should companies do to stay ahead in talent attraction within real estate?
Three things, in my experience.
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Move faster than feels comfortable - In a fluid market, a slow process is not thorough, it is simply a process that loses to someone else's.
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Be clear about what you are offering - Package, location and title are table stakes. Ambition, ownership and what the next three years look like are what move senior people.
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Take a longer view of talent - The best hires are rarely available at the exact moment you need them. Mapping a market properly, and staying in genuine contact with the people in it, is what turns a fluid market from a threat into an advantage.
Technology has changed the mechanics of hiring, and fluidity has changed the rules of retention - but neither replaces the judgement needed to build the right team. The companies getting this right aren't the ones with the most tools; they're the ones using AI and data to move faster and see further, while still relying on human insight to make the final call. If you're thinking about how technology and talent strategy fit together across your business, my team and I would welcome the conversation. Speak with an advisor to speak with one of our advisors about building a people strategy fit for where this market is heading.
FAQs
What is the biggest change in real estate recruitment over the last twenty years?
Technology. It has transformed the speed, reach and transparency of hiring, even though the underlying disciplines of real estate have stayed broadly the same.
Why is the Middle East real estate talent market so competitive right now?
Because talent is more mobile than ever. Senior leaders are comparing opportunities across regions rather than within one city, and the Gulf is competing directly with established global markets for the same people.
How should hiring managers respond to a fluid market?
By shortening decision timelines, being specific about the opportunity beyond salary, and investing in long-term market mapping rather than reacting only when a vacancy opens.
About the Author
Andrew Deverell-Smith | Founder and Group CEO, The deverellsmith Group
Andrew founded deverellsmith in 2006 and leads The deverellsmith Group, which includes Hintel Middle East and Hintel USA. With over two decades in property and real estate recruitment, he leads Executive Search, Research and Talent Advisory across the Group, working with businesses in the UK, the Middle East and the US. Under his leadership, the Group has been named a Sunday Times Best Company to Work For seven years running.
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