Property leaders have called for urgent action to improve conditions for people from BIPOC backgrounds after EG’s race diversity survey revealed an “appalling” insight into racism and discrimination in the industry.
The survey, which ran between April and August this year at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, has revealed that 69% of people from ethnic minority backgrounds have experienced racism while working in property.
Nearly three-quarters (71%) of people from BIPOC – Black, indigenous and other people of colour – backgrounds said racism was an issue in property, and 85% said not enough was being done to address it.
British Property Federation director of strategy and external affairs Ghislaine Halpenny said the statistics were “appalling” and that the industry “should be ashamed of ourselves” at the level of discrimination that still exists.
“It should be a bucket of cold water [for the industry] to absolutely stand up and call out negativity,” Halpenny said.
The survey also found the industry is failing to keep diverse talent in the property profession, with nearly two-thirds (65%) of people from BIPOC backgrounds saying people from ethnic minority backgrounds are choosing to leave the sector.
For those BAME professionals who persevere with a career in property, 86% said the industry has failed to promote diverse talent into senior leadership positions, and 81% believe the sector is falling short in hiring people from diverse backgrounds.
Oxford Properties head of Europe Joanne McNamara said the industry was not doing “anywhere near enough” in levelling the playing field for people of colour.
“We have to change the make-up of our senior boards so people can look up and say: ‘If they can do it, I can do it’,” she said. “Without that, you will utterly fail to keep talented people in the industry and they will go elsewhere.”
Despite people from BIPOC backgrounds offering a sobering outlook on the state of race relations in property, white property professionals, including those in senior leadership and board positions, appear more likely to have remained ignorant to the state of affairs.
Less than half (44%) of white property professionals said the industry is failing to retain BIPOC workers, 21 percentage points lower than BIPOC respondents. Roughly 40% of white people said property is trying to increase diversity, compared with 27% of BAME professionals.
Of the 191 board directors and senior leaders who answered the survey (85% of whom were white), 42% said racism was not an issue for the industry.
BAME in Property founder and director Priya Shah said this difference was “not surprising”, as white property professionals would want to view the issue with a “glass-half-full perspective”.
She said: “There is so much talk but little action, and I think that is part of the problem – a lot of people are saying they are committed to diversity and increasing their ethnic representation at leadership positions, but when it comes to actual walking the talk, there is very little of that.
“So it doesn’t surprise me that BAME people are slightly reserved in regards to whether the industry could improve.”
Shah said although change does not happen overnight, the industry must act now on these “disappointing” statistics.
“I would hope that [the survey] will be a catalyst for change,” she said. “There has been so much commitment from the industry, and this should hopefully give some tangible reasons as to why we need to start making some changes in the property industry.”
To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette
