Jobs boom: would-be brokers are lining up to get their state licenses.

New York City's real estate community is experiencing a jobs boom in line with a statewide hike in employment, according to industry insiders.

"The state can't give enough tests to meet the demand of people trying to get their broker or sales licenses," said Steve Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY).

"There are lines around the block to get into these tests, which is an indication that people are coming into the business and that there are more jobs in the business."

According to recent figures released by the New York State Department of Labor and statements made by city comptroller William C. Thompson, New York City is steadily gaining jobs at a rate that is closing in on the national average.

June's job rise of 3,500 represented a 1.2 percent gain, noticeably better than the 1.0 percent average increase for the rest of the nation.

The figures bode well for the real estate industry, not only because those numbers contain real estate jobs, but also because increased job numbers in all industries translate into increased real estate demand--the biggest catalyst in creating further real estate jobs.

"As the market continues to improve I think you are going to see higher employment in the industry, I've seen a lot of people coming into the industry on the brokerage side of the business," said Suzy Reingold, director of leasing at CB Richard Ellis, in charge of managing and hiring brokers.

Reingold feels that the Downtown market will see marked improvement in transactional activity and has consequently beefed up CB's Downtown office.

"We will be expanding in our downtown office because we feel that the area is going to see more activity," she said. "We've already been doing some hiring."

Reingold's position correlates with the findings of a recently released Downtown economic indicator developed by Pace University's Center for Downtown New York with assistance from the Mayor's Office and the Alliance for Downtown New York.

According to published reports, the indicator, called the Pace Downtown Index, "provides a single statistic with which to measure economic and business activity in Lower Manhattan."

The Index's findings show that Downtown is rebounding.

Ken Krasnow, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, suggested that the recent influx of real estate professionals is because it is an industry in vogue, much like the stock market before it.

"As real estate becomes more of a known commodity, more people will be attracted to it," he said. "We're starting to see more people looking to get into the industry. The stock market and Wall Street was kind of the darling of the economy a few years ago; that was where people wanted to be. People wanted to be day traders, they wanted to be bond traders, they wanted to be in and around the financial services sector. Now we're experiencing that to a certain extent in the real estate industry."

"We're clearly seeing more quality of people than we have in the last couple of years."

A recent peak in residential development throughout the five boroughs--especially in Queens and Brooklyn--has also boosted activity. 20,000 residential units have been built per year for the last two years, a significant jump from a past average of 10,000 units per year.

"That's a big increase and an indication of the confidence in New York," Spinola said. "Again, that's creating more jobs."

Although the market forecast seems good for the real estate industry, CB Richard Ellis has instituted a training program to better prepare its young brokers for both the good times and the bad. Called the Wheel Program, the training is designed to help college graduates deal with the rigors of the commission driven brokerage industry--to get employed and stay employed.

"There were people who dropped out of this business when the market wasn't as good," Reingold said. "In the Wheel program, that's what we're hoping to avoid, we want young brokers to be prepared for what they're getting into. The more we train and develop our people, the better equipped they are to withstand all types of market changes."