Total compensation rose for top real estate executives (CEO, COO, and CFO), according to our year-over-year analysis of nearly 400 public, private, and not-for-profit companies in Pearl Meyer’s 2019 Real Estate Compensation Survey.
Total compensation, which includes base salary; annual incentives/cash bonuses; and long-term incentives such as restricted stock, stock options, and the annualized value of other real estate interests, increased 7.3% for CEOs. The analysis, based on real estate companies of all types, sizes and geographic regions, revealed that while CEO salaries increased 1.5%, annual incentives/cash bonuses decreased 2.9% at the median. It’s the long-term incentives, often the largest component of executive pay, that primarily accounts for the spike. LTIs increased 6.2% at the median.
Total compensation for Chief Operating Officers (COOs) increased 9.8%. COO salaries, annual incentives/cash bonuses, and long-term incentives increased 5.5%, 7.2%, and 2.7% at the median, respectively.
Lastly, total compensation for Chief Financial Officers increased 10.8%. Salaries increased 6.2%, whereas annual incentives/cash bonuses increased 5.1% and long-term incentives increased 22.6% at the median.
Pearl Meyer’s 2019 Real Estate Compensation Survey (formerly conducted by Christenson Advisors) includes 391 commercial and residential real estate companies, the highest level of participation in the survey’s history.
The full report serves as a valuable benchmarking resource to compare your company’s pay practices to the market. You’ll find detailed company information and compensation data for 160 positions broken out by ownership status, platform type, asset class, revenue, total capitalization/gross assets, assets under management, number of employees, and incumbent location.
For more information on purchasing a copy of the survey report, click here.
