Canada’s commercial real estate and development industry is operating in a far more complex environment than it was even five years ago.

Capital is more cautious, and artificial intelligence (AI) and technology are reshaping how assets are valued and managed, while investors, regulators, and communities demand greater transparency and accountability. Yet when it comes to hiring, many organizations are still relying on the same mental models, the same criteria, and often the same people.  

That disconnect is no longer benign. Having spent two decades contributing to building this industry’s talent and workplace cultures, I can say firsthand: it's consequential.

Across the CRED sector, access to capital, speed of execution, and long-term performance are increasingly tied to human capacity. Yet too many firms continue to hire for familiarity over value-add, mistaking comfort for competence in a market where adaptability is now a prerequisite for growth.  

The disconnect that’s no longer benign: The numbers behind the problem

REALPAC’s 2026 Compensation Survey shows average salary increases of about three per cent across the sector.

On paper, that looks steady. In reality, it fails to keep pace with inflation and rising costs of living. Employees are being asked to take on more responsibility, manage greater complexity, and deliver more outcomes, yet their compensation remains stuck in a holding pattern.  

That imbalance is not sustainable. Professionals see the disconnect between what is being asked of them and what is being offered in return.

They are not leaving because pay is unfair in isolation; they are leaving because pay is stagnant while expectations keep climbing. The cycle repeats: more work, more pressure, more accountability; without the recognition or investment that signals long-term value.  

This is why the issue is not simply financial. It is structural. The individuals who originate deals, reposition assets, oversee development and drive ESG innovation are increasingly selective, and too often overlooked. When firms rely solely on compensation, they miss the bigger truth: retention now depends on how organizations measure and reward capacity, not just on how they balance salary budgets.  

The risk of familiarity in a changing industry

In periods of uncertainty, organizations tend to default to what feels safe. In hiring, this often manifests as prioritizing “cultural fit,” shared backgrounds, and linear career paths that resemble existing leadership. While this approach may reduce short-term friction, it also narrows the range of thinking inside the organization.  

Canadian real estate is not facing incremental change; it is navigating structural shifts. From AI-enabled underwriting and data-driven asset operations to ESG reporting, complex stakeholder management, and evolving land-use expectations, the skills required to succeed now cut across disciplines.

PwC’s Canadian real estate outlook consistently emphasizes that productivity, digital competence, and leadership agility, not just asset quality, will determine outperformance.  

Talent capable of driving these outcomes rarely arrives packaged in familiar ways. Individuals who combine real estate knowledge with technology fluency, public-private experience, or sophisticated investor engagement skills often fall outside traditional hiring templates.

When “fit” becomes shorthand for sameness, those candidates are filtered out before their potential value is understood.  

What we're facing is not a talent shortage. In my experience, it's more accurate to call it a hiring problem –a stubborn reliance on old thinking while expecting new results.

When “culture fit” stops adding value

The concept of culture itself is not flawed. However, how culture is evaluated in recruitment is often multi-faceted.

Human resources (HR) plays a vital role in governance and compliance. That contribution is important.

But when HR becomes the primary gatekeeper, recruitment risks turning into a compliance exercise rather than a strategic lever. The focus on policy upgrades, standardized processes, “fit” checklists, personality assessments, and tidy evaluation frameworks may look progressive, but they sidestep the bigger question: Does this candidate have the capacity to change the business's trajectory?  

By measuring what is convenient rather than what is critical, HR unintentionally reinforces archaic thinking.

The result is teams that look cohesive but lack the diversity of thought investors demand. It’s not malicious, but it is misaligned. In a sector where profits, investor confidence and community alignment are on the line, that misalignment is costly.  

The cost of comfort

The question Canadian CRE leaders must ask is blunt: Are you hiring for comfort or for capacity?  

Comfort hires keep things predictable. They're colleagues who blend in, rarely push back and help meetings end on time. But it's the capacity hires who shake things up. They bring in unexpected backgrounds, new perspectives and sometimes unsettle the room. But in my experience, that's exactly when the best results and innovative ideas emerge.

The real risk is that firms keep mistaking stability for strength.

In today’s market, where investor expectations, community demands, and operational complexity are rising faster than compensation, comfort is no longer neutral; it is a liability. That liability is exactly what makes talent the defining currency of Canadian real estate. 

The currency of talent

Canadian commercial real estate isn’t truly suffering from a talent shortage; rather, it’s a hiring problem dressed up as something else. While pay looks steady on the surface, I've watched countless firms measure all the wrong things: isolated skills, neat policy frameworks that miss the spirit of the work, and 'fit' that really just means more of the same.

What matters now is competence, the kind you see when someone delivers across disciplines, adapts when the ground shifts and communicates clearly with investors, governments, and communities alike. For leaders, it’s time to move beyond comfort metrics and start measuring what actually drives performance.

The future of talent in Canadian CRE will not be decided by how well firms maintain old processes. It will be decided by how well they invest in better tools to attract, retain and promote professionals who can deliver growth, resilience and trust.  

The firms that make that shift will not only keep their best people. They will set the standard for what leadership in Canadian real estate looks like in the decade ahead.