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Only 8% of women earned more than $250,000, while 34% of men earned more than $250,000 annually. Overall, women reported lower income than men, regardless of their experience.

A 2007 study examined views on compensation and other issues. “The most surprising highlight was that [most participants] thought men and women earned equal salaries. In fact, they do not. Men were getting bonuses and ownership and stocks that women were not getting. We believe that women had been taught to focus on salary equity and had not learned as much as they needed to about the various structures of compensation,” says Gail Ayers, CEO and president of Lawrence, Kan.-based CREW, which published a compensation guide this year.

More than 60% of CREW's 8,000 members earn more than $150,000, Ayers says. Architects usually earn less than developers, who earn less than brokers. “A strong, established broker earns between $700,000 and $1 million a year.”

About 36% of commercial real estate professionals are women. More women surveyed specialized in asset and property management — 51% of the professionals — than in brokerage sales and leasing, where 23% were women. The percentage in brokerage had climbed from 20% five years earlier, while the percentage in asset management had risen from 47%.

Tough brokerage trade

“If you look at every firm in the industry, 10 years ago there were very few women in very senior positions,” says Suzy Reingold, executive managing director of the New York City offices of real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. She manages 180 brokerage professionals and oversees about 11,000 transactions a year.

In the past, a number of young women dropped out of the brokerage business before they could rise to top levels. “It's a tough business, full of conflict. But women are just as equipped — maybe better equipped — to handle conflicting and multi-tasking situations.”

As for her own rise, Reingold feels like a pioneer. “I was the first woman partner in a major New York City law firm. I've been through this a long time — I've been in the industry 37 years.”

One useful trait for a woman at the top of her game is chutzpah. Neman, the Charles Dunn broker, was negotiating the sale of a cluster of office buildings in Houston for more than $40 million when the deal nearly fell apart after a property inspection revealed problems and the lender demanded a new escrow fund for the deferred maintenance. Neither the buyer nor the seller would put up the money, says Neman. “Literally, the last second of the deal I put up a part of my commission — a significant part — and made the deal happen.”
— Denise Kalette is senior associate editor.