According to the newly-released New Zealand Property Industry Impact Report, the property industry is currently New Zealand’s second-largest employer, with 235,030 people directly employed in the sector in 2022.
This equates to 10% of all employees*, or one in ten of the Kiwi workforce.
Over the 2012 – 2022 period, the number of people employed in the property industry grew by 82% (105,580 employees) – the largest growth rate across all sectors surveyed.
The average earnings in the property industry per person are $79,200 per annum, $5,400 or 7% above the average across all industries of $73,800.
Within the property industry, the Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services sub-sector has the highest earnings, at $98,300 per annum.
While the property industry makes up 10% of New Zealand’s total workforce, ES announced Construction Services is the largest sub-sector with 112,030 employees, or 48% of all employment. Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services is second with 48,820 employees (21%), while Residential Building Construction is third with 40,340 employees (17%).
The property industry has higher average earnings across all age brackets than the New Zealand average. Earnings in the property industry peak at 45-49 years, which is the same as all other industries. The property industry has a slightly younger workforce than the average with 57% of employees aged under 40 compared to the average of 50%.
*Employment does not include contractors or other self-employed people.
Gender diversity in the sector
According to the data, 25% of employees in the property industry are female, compared with 49% across all industries – perhaps an unsurprising statistic given Construction Services make up 48% of employment within the sector.
Earnings for females in the property industry are $65,900, which is $2,300 higher than the average for all industries.
In the 2019 – 2022 period, the proportion of female in the industry has increased from 24% to 25%.
