Property Services

Overview

This page provides high level information and data on the Property Services industry which comprises five main industry sectors:

The Property Services industry is composed of a diverse range of sectors involved in the design, operation, servicing and sale of commercial and non-commercial buildings.

IRC and Skills Forecasts

Property Services Industry Reference Committee

Employment and training snapshot

Employment levels for the various sectors of the Property Services industry have increased between 2000 and 2019. The highest employment levels during this period were in 2015 for Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services (around 315,100), and in 2018 for Property Operators and Real Estate Services (around 176,800) and Building Cleaning, Pest Control and Other Support Services (around 224,300). Growth is projected to occur in all the above industries between 2019 and 2024, with the strongest employment level increase projected to occur in the Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services industry (reaching 353,100 by 2024).

Program enrolments and completions declined in the Property Services Training Package between 2015 and 2018, from a peak in 2015 of 82,950 and 34,530 respectively. There were 69,830 program enrolments and 27,100 program completions in the Property Services Training Package in 2018. Subject-only enrolments grew over the same period, from 82,390 in 2015 to 142,380 in 2018. The largest numbers of enrolments in this training package in 2018 were at the certificate IV (36%) and certificate II (33%) levels.

Industry insights on skills needs

According to the Property Services IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast the top generic skills in demand for the Property Services industry as a whole are:

Managerial / Leadership
Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) (Foundation skills)
Customer service / Marketing
Financial
Technology.

According to job vacancy data, the top generic skills in demand in the Property Services industry are:

Communication skills
Detail oriented
Planning
Organisational skills
Building effective relationships.

In addition, the job vacancy data identifies the most in-demand occupations as: Real Estate Sales Agents, Civil Engineering Professionals, Other Engineering Professionals, Sales Representatives and Contract, Program and Project Administrators. The top employers for the sector span a number of industries and include AECOM Technology Corporation and Jacobs Associates, among other engineering services companies.

The Property Services IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast identifies the following key drivers for change in the Property services industry:

Social drivers including increasing urbanisation and clandestine laboratories
Technological drivers including automation, drones and building information modelling (BIM)
Economic drivers including growth in property services industry and consumer demands
Environmental drivers including sustainability
Educational drivers including convergence of industries leading to diverse skill needs
Political drivers including compliance and regulation and the banking royal commission

Many of these drivers for change identified for 2019 are also identified as challenges and opportunities for the Property Services industry. These major challenges and opportunities identified are consistent with those identified in the previous year below.

The Property Services IRC’s 2018 Skills Forecast identifies the following as major challenges and opportunities in the Property services industry:

Increasing urbanisation, which increases demand for security, pest control and waste service and creates additional need for sustainable buildings.
Industry convergence, which is creating a need for professionals with both knowledge in their specific field and general knowledge of related fields, rather than solely specialised knowledge
Customer demand, specifically in the area of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. Consumers also have more access to information on services (and in many cases more options).
Digitalisation – major technological advances including Building Information Modelling are changing the nature of many occupations in the Property Services industry and putting many roles at risk of automation.
Sustainability – as well as consumer demand for sustainable products, policy shifts have placed an increasing focus on ‘green’ buildings and the reduction of waste.
Product regulation – there is ongoing regulatory change in fire safety and testing, waste disposal and treatment and building sustainability. Businesses and workers in this industry need to have an up to date understanding of regulation in their field in order to operate at full compliance.

The Property Services IRC’s 2017 Skills Forecast underscores the impact of technology on the Property Services industry, with those across the industry dealing with the effects of changing technological tools and a need for more digital literacy within the industry.

The industry is also increasingly feeling the effects of increased globalisation, and interest in Australian property by institutional buyers. In the real estate sales area, consumers have access to larger volumes of online property data and may bypass sales agents in favour of online channels.

For detailed skills needs analysis, see respective sector pages.

Links and resources

Data sources and notes

Department of Employment 2018, Employment Projections, available from the Labour Market Information Portal

ANZSIC 2 digit 67 Property Operators and Real Estate Services industry and 73 Building Cleaning, Pest Control and Other Support Services industry, and ANZSIC 3 digit Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services industry,employment projections to May 2023.

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, Employed persons by Industry group of main job (ANZSIC), Sex, State and Territory, November 1984 onwards, 6291.0.55.003 - EQ06, viewed 1 November 2018 http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6291.0.55.003May%202018?OpenDocument

Employed total by ANZSIC 2 digit 67 Property Operators and Real Estate Services industry and 73 Building Cleaning, Pest Control and Other Support Services industry, and ANZSIC 3 digit Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services industry, 2000 to 2018, May Quarter.

Training data has been extracted from the National VET Provider Collection, Total VET students and courses from the following training packages or qualifications:

Program Enrolments by CPP Property Services Training Package
PRD Property Development and Management Training Package
PRM Asset Maintenance Training Package
PRS Asset Security Training Package.

Priority skills data has been extracted from the Property Services IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast.

Each IRC has prioritised and ranked the generic skills.

Job vacancy data have been extracted from Burning Glass Technologies 2019, Labor Insight Real-time Labor Market Information Tool, Burning Glass Technologies, Boston, viewed July 2019, https://www.burning-glass.com.

Data shown represent the most requested generic skills and occupations according to internet job postings in Australia between July 2016 and June 2019 filtered by ANZSIC and ANZSCO classification levels listed below.

Generic skills / Occupations
- ANZSCO major groups excluding 8512 Food Trades Assistants
- 67 Property Operators and Real Estate Services
- 73 Building Cleaning, Pest Control and Other Support Services
- 7712 Investigation and Security Services
- 692 Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services
- 3234 Fire and Security Alarm Installation Services
Employers
- 6121 Real Estate Sales Agents
- 2332 Civil Engineering Professionals
- 2339 Other Engineering Professionals
- 6113 Sales Representatives
- 5111 Contract, Program and Project Administrators
- 67 Property Operators and Real Estate Services
- 73 Building Cleaning, Pest Control and Other Support Services
- 7712 Investigation and Security Services
- 692 Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services
- 3234 Fire and Security Alarm Installation Services
- Excluding 8512 Food Trades Assistants.

Updated: 08 May 2020

Property Services

Sectors

Overview

IRC and Skills Forecasts

Industry cluster snapshot

Employment and training snapshot

Industry insights on skills needs

Links and resources

Industry associations and advisory bodies

Regulatory bodies

Employee associations

Relevant research

Data sources and notes