Assessing the competence of South African corporate real estate managers

Abstract

It is unclear how competent South African corporate real estate (CRE) managers are in general, and the extent to which their educational background, experience or certification affects their level of competence. This report aims to answer these questions through a survey of corporate real estate professionals in South Africa. The study employed a gap-scale analysis which determines the existence and magnitude of competence gaps by comparing respondent’s self-assessment of their level of competence for each competence area to their own rankings of its importance in corporate real estate management. The study reveals competence gaps among respondents. However, having formal training in real estate, relevant experience or a professional certification were found to lead to greater levels of competence. The industry would benefit from professionalization and creating experiential and educational standards for its practitioners in order to remove the variation in practice, boost the credibility of the industry, and make the local industry attractive for foreign investment