Despite Evidence That It Improves Returns, Commercial Real Estate Industry Lags on Diversity and Inclusion

ULI reports in its current issue of Urban Land Magazine that the Commercial Real Estate industry has fallen behind on diversity and inclusion. Despite evidence including a 2015 McKinsey report showing that gender and ethnically diverse teams perform significantly above industry median, 75% of senior executive executive jobs in the industry are held by white men. Just 1.3% of these positions were held by black men, 14.1% were held by white women, and fewer than 1% were held by nonwhite women. There is some evidence that the industry could start to change, however. Deloitte's 2019 Commercial Real Estate Outlook found that 86% of respondents acknowledged the impact of diversity on returns, and 79% said the industry is not doing enough to promote diversity and inclusion. As tech based innovations including crowd funding gain in popularity, more doors could be opened to those who have traditionally fallen outside of the old industry "boys' club." Read more.