Southern California Real Estate Job Market Booms: Over 10,000 Jobs Added in Construction Sector
Southern California’s real estate industry is booming, with more than 10,000 new jobs added last month, primarily in construction. According to the Orange County Register, property-linked employment in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties reached a post-Great Recession high of 805,200 in October, marking a significant increase of 10,200 jobs in just one month.
Over the past year, real estate work in the region has grown by 16,300 jobs, representing a 2.1 percent increase. This growth comes as a welcome turnaround from last spring when sluggish home sales led to a loss of 4,600 real estate jobs in March. However, hiring began to pick up again in May, leading to the current upswing in the industry.
Despite higher interest rates impacting residential sales, local construction work has seen significant growth, driven by large infrastructure projects. Other property-related work has remained relatively stable, with many real estate workers being self-employed and not accounted for in state employment figures.
Overall, Southern California saw a record high in total employment across all industries, with 7.3 million people on the payroll, marking an increase of 88,200 jobs in a month. Non-real estate jobs also saw growth over the past year, with an additional 118,100 jobs added, representing a 1.6 percent increase.
The real estate job market accounted for 9.9 percent of total employment last month, with the industry’s hiring making up 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 made up 9.7 percent of all Southland jobs and 12.7 percent of local hiring.
Specifically, work in the building, civil, and construction trades saw a 2.1 percent year-over-year growth in October, reaching 125,500 jobs. Specialty trades hired by contractors also saw a 3.2 percent increase to 267,000 jobs, while building services for commercial property operations grew by 4.9 percent to 115,900 jobs.
While real estate lending jobs grew by 1 percent to 103,100, jobs in real estate services saw a slight decline of 0.2 percent to 141,500. The overall growth in the real estate industry is a positive sign for the Southern California economy, indicating a strong market for both residential and commercial properties.