I often get asked what are the most sought-after jobs in Japan’s real estate market and the answer is sometimes frustrating to the inquirer.

Because the answer is that it depends.

Rather than ask what the single most sought-after job is across the whole industry, it is helpful to break down the jobs into the two most common paths; real estate management and real estate deal making.

Real estate management can be further divided into three areas; building management, property management and asset management and typically your proximity to the property will usually, but not always, determine where in your career you are.

Building managers usually look after in great detail one or two properties and report to property managers.  Property managers in turn have several building managers reporting to them and would report to an asset manager.  Naturally, the bigger the size and value of the building, the bigger the responsibility.

The asset manager is working closely with and reporting to the investors, and may have up to 20 buildings in their portfolio to manage with the help of the different property and building managers.  If the investors are non-Japanese, English skills will no doubt come into play.

As you might have guessed, one ideal career progression would be from building manager to property manager to asset manager, each step subsequently taking you further away from the actual property level, but closer to the investor and decision makers.

Alternatively, many strong asset managers come from a finance or banking background and bring strong numerical skills to the table, with only a tertiary understanding of the physical building.  What they lack in physical building knowledge, they make up for in their ability to deep dive quantitatively and report to investors.

In some cases, savvy candidates are able to develop their career with a combination of both physical building knowledge as well as the quantitative finance skills.  This puts them in a special category virtually guaranteeing a stable and well-paid career.

In late 2021, I would say capable asset managers are the most highly sought-after candidates in Japan.

The deal making career path is different yet again and is geared towards the social, extroverted types in the industry.  The ability of a broker or acquisitions professional to access off market information is going to make or break their careers.   

This requires maintaining a great reputation, constantly networking and understanding how macro-economics affects their industry and clients’ decision making, is going to determine their success.

One common thing I hear from brokers is that after a few years, they hope to graduate to an in-house acquisitions job, where they take more responsibility for each deal, rather than acting as a middle man between seller and buyer.

So when I have a company looking for an acquisitions expert, I often look towards the successful brokers as the personality traits overlap.

Should a candidate fit either career path I’ve outlined above and be bilingual, there is a strong chance they will find themselves with a career path full of growth, stability and longevity.

If you are this candidate then please contact me to learn about the different companies that are eager to hear from someone like you.

Alternatively, if you are a real estate company that is thinking about entering Japan, reach out to get more specific details about what hiring would look like for your particular business in Japan.  Great companies are built by great people and finding those great people is what we excel at.