Market Snapshot (August 2025)

While growth is modest, strategic hiring is back on the table. Especially for roles that drive value, control risk, or unlock future revenue.

• House prices: +2.4% YoY (Nationwide), recovering from 2024’s flatline.
• Commercial property: Bottoming out. Retail repositioning and office right-sizing continue.
• Land & planning: Reinvigorated by government housing targets and zoning reforms.
• Logistics: Solid demand from occupiers, cautious new development.
• PropTech & ESG: No longer optional. Digital twin tech, carbon tracking, and energy compliance now board-level issues.
• Regionally mobile executives win more mandates. Especially outside London
• Hybrid roles dominate. A big trend is that full in-office leadership is rare, but remote-only roles are nearly extinct. Three days in the office seems to be the sweet spot.
• ESG and tech aren’t side skills anymore. C-suite hires are expected to engage directly in net zero, data analytics, and compliance

Executive Roles in Demand by Function

1. Planning & Strategic Land

• Roles: Director of Planning, Strategic Land Director, Head of Policy
• Focus: NPPF changes, land promotion, brownfield regeneration, zoning reform
• Trend: Elevated importance as planning bottlenecks and housing targets converge

2. Development & Delivery

• Roles: Chief Development Officer, Regional Development Director, Head of Delivery
• In demand for: BTR, PRS, urban regeneration, student housing, mixed-use
• Core skills: Construction oversight, cost control, public-private JV management

3. Land Acquisition

• Roles: Group Land Director, Head of Strategic Land, Regional Land Lead
• Trend: Conditional deals, greenfield margins, early-stage promotion
• Key markets: Midlands, Yorkshire, North West, South West

4. Asset & Investment Management

• Roles: Chief Asset Officer, Director of Estates, Head of Portfolio Strategy
• What’s changing: Re-gearing leases, energy retrofits, repurposing commercial stock

5. PropTech & ESG Leadership

• Roles: CTO, Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of Data/Carbon Strategy
• Context: ESG compliance, MEES, smart building rollout, automation

Who is Recruiting ?

These firms are making direct C-suite and senior hires .

Housebuilders & Developers

• Barratt Developments – hiring Planning Directors, Regional Land Heads
• Persimmon Homes – active in Group/Divisional Land Director roles
• Berkeley Group – strengthening delivery leadership and ESG oversight
• Urban & Civic (Wellcome Trust) – expanding senior strategic land team
• Muse Developments – hiring Regional Development Leads for JV projects

Build-to-Rent & Residential Operators

• Moda Living – recruiting execs in operations, delivery, and sustainability
• Grainger PLC – hiring Asset Managers and ESG-focused Directors
• Placefirst – scaling delivery leadership in North and Midlands

Commercial & Mixed-Use Developers

• British Land – bringing asset repositioning and ESG strategy in-house
• Landsec – hiring for urban mixed-use regeneration roles
• Canary Wharf Group – building out senior leadership for resi-led phases.  

Logistics & Industrial

• Tritax Big Box – hiring in portfolio strategy and development
• Prologis UK – internal growth in ESG, planning, and BTS project teams

Retail & Asset-Heavy Operators

• Hammerson – reshaping senior leadership to drive repurposing and asset value
• Capital & Regional – hiring direct for regional property ops and repositioning.

ESG, Tech, and Infrastructure-Led Real Estate

• SEGRO – strengthening in-house ESG and development directorates
• Get Living – hiring for digital asset management and placemaking leadership
• Legal & General Capital (LGC) – hiring across regeneration, clean energy, and affordable housing investment

Salary Benchmarks 2025

Role	Base Salary (£)	Bonus/Equity
CEO (REIT/DevCo)	£220k – £350k	50–150% bonus + LTIP
Chief Development Officer	£160k – £250k	30–100% bonus, equity
Director of Planning	£110k – £180k	15–30% bonus
Group Land Director	£140k – £220k	20–60% bonus
CIO / Head of Investment	£180k – £300k	50–150% bonus, carry
Head of Asset Management	£140k – £230k	30–70% bonus
CTO / Head of PropTech	£150k – £250k	25–60% bonus + options
Chief Sustainability Officer	£130k – £200k	15–40% bonus

PE-backed businesses tend to offer higher performance-based comp. Publicly listed REITs focus on LTIPs. PropCo roles vary by sector and geography.

The Outlook for 2026–2029: Moderate, Selective, Growth.

Sector	Market Trend	C-suite Hiring Outlook
Residential Dev	Moderate growth, land pipeline rebuild	High – planning, land, development heads needed
Commercial Assets	Portfolio churn, ESG upgrades	Targeted – value creation + operational focus
Logistics	Stable, tenant-led demand	Steady – dev & asset leads, ESG growing
ESG / Tech	Explosive need for compliance, data	High – CSOs, CTOs, heads of digital
Planning	Politicised, reform-focused	Relevance increasing – senior policy roles rising

 

Recommendations for your C-Suite Job Search

• Target direct employers early – especially those in expansion or repositioning phases. Build up your pipeline of contacts well in advance.
• Update your pitch . Focus less on tasks and responsibilities and more on capital efficiency, sustainability, digitisation, and value creation
• Show crossover value. Increasingly we need to see this so planning + delivery, land + JV structuring, ESG + ops
• Treat hiring cycles like deal cycles . At senior level you need to treat your job search as a long cycle  of pipeline, nurture, close. Building and nurturing your pipeline should be an ongoing part of your career plan.

• Don’t wait for roles to go public as often by then the shortlist is locked.
• Don’t ignore regions outside London it would seem that  most growth is now suburban and regional
• Don’t underestimate the need to be ESG/digital fluent.