Quarterly Overview – UK Real Estate Labour Market Trends, April 2025
Key findings include:
- Vacancies in March hit the highest levels in six months after a 22.9% MOM surge
- Real Estate Services activity in 2025 is now 37% higher than in 2023
- Construction and Property Management roles are seeing the biggest growth
- Balfour Beatty is one to watch, with a 70% uplift in activity YOY
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Britain’s property industry is showing positive signs, despite economic headwinds. Inflation has eased to 2.1%, and the Bank of England has held the base rate at 4.25%, stabilising borrowing costs, and the forecast is for them to drop further. While GDP growth remains tepid at 0.4% in Q1, vacancies in March hit the highest levels in six months, after a 22.9% month-on-month surge. This is according to the latest UK Real Estate Labour Market Trends report by Macdonald & Co and market data analysts Vacancysoft.
The government’s Invest 2035 scheme, backed by £3.2 billion in infrastructure allocations, and recent revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework are helping unlock investment. Interest is concentrating on logistics, healthcare and build-to-rent housing, with Bristol and Manchester attracting particular attention.
Simon Crabb – Managing Director UK – Macdonald & Company comments:
“The UK property market remains vigilant this year. While macroeconomic stability and strategic reforms have bolstered investor sentiment, the landscape remains complex. We’re seeing strong interest in resilient sectors like logistics, healthcare, senior living, and build-to-rent, but wider hiring trends and geopolitical risks are reminding us not to get ahead of ourselves. Clients are leaning on trusted partnerships, looking for certainty where possible. This is a time for proactive yet measured actions.”
Sectors Diverge as Investment Patterns Shift
The real estate market is responding to global and domestic uncertainty with strategic reallocation. Real Estate Services is the best-performing area, though, with hiring activity increasing compared to last year, and volumes are on track to be 37% higher than 2023. Real Estate Holding and Development is also expected to grow by 4.7%, reflecting demand for lower-risk assets such as last-mile logistics, build-to-rent housing and healthcare facilities.
However, there is a dark cloud, it is that Real Estate Finance, which surged 28.4% last year, is forecast to contract by 10% amid cautious lending conditions, whilst Real Estate Consulting has also seen a drop this year, of 22.3%.
Skills Demand Becomes Sharply Stratified
Areas which are seeing the greatest growth include Construction Management, forecast to increase by 31.7%, sustained by infrastructure and logistics development. Similarly, there has also been a boom in Project Management, with vacancies increasing by 75.6%.
However, Property Sales, Leasing and Letting is forecast to decline by 2.2% in 2025. The drop follows a hiring surge in 2024 linked to stamp duty reforms. Still, it remains the sector’s largest discipline, supported by robust rental activity and softer mortgage rates.
Infrastructure Leads as Firms Reposition Hiring
Among the leading firms, Balfour Beatty is the one to watch, with a 70% uplift year on year. Meanwhile, AECOM remains the largest recruiter, forecasting a modest 0.3% rise in vacancies, buoyed by steady demand in programme delivery. Amongst the Consulting firms, CBRE and JLL have been the most active, but both have seen drop-offs in activity this year.
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All data featured in this report is available in the Vacancy Analytics platform, which is updated in real-time and allows for interactive analysis, giving you the power to drill into trends to identify the key insights you need to power your business.
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