PLA Vice Chair's Report on Freehold's LGBTQIA+ in Real Estate Survey 2026
As many of you will know, the PLA was pleased to support and promote this year’s LGBTQIA+ in Real Estate: Attitudes, Actions and Allies survey, held by Freehold and Estates Gazette. The survey, which has been running annually since 2017, tracks the experiences and perceptions of LGBTQIA+ professionals working in real estate. I’m pleased to know that many of you have taken part either as LGBTQIA+ professionals or allies. This breadth of participation helps provide a richer and more meaningful picture of where our industry stands.
The results were unveiled at Freehold's annual conference earlier this month, which I attended, and I wanted to share my thoughts and some of the key findings with you.
Hearing from Freehold’s two founders about how the organisation was first born – with each feeling they needed to hide an important part of themselves at work – resonated deeply with my own experience. The community and safe space that Freehold provides, together with a diversity of industry role models, is something I would have valued enormously early in my career.
The results of this year's survey are, as Freehold's co-chair Dan Westley put it, "mixed". There is genuine progress to celebrate, but also areas of real concern.
Encouraging signs
The percentage of respondents who have experienced or witnessed microaggressions or discrimination at work has fallen from just over 31% to just over 25%.
More than 94% believe their workplace is a safe place for them or LGBTQIA+ colleagues to come out, up from 92% last year.
Close to 90% would recommend the real estate industry to people from the LGBTQIA+ community, which is a new record for the survey.
Areas of concern
The percentage of respondents who are out at work has dropped below 82%, down from a recent high of 84%, and less than half feel comfortable being out with clients.
Over half still believe not enough is being done within the industry to promote LGBTQIA+ inclusion.
Perhaps most concerning is the significant decline in the number of people who believe there are visible LGBTQIA+ role models in their workplace or wider industry, falling from more than 92% to less than 66%.
There is also a particular concern around trans inclusion. As one respondent commented, "Attitudes are much more positive for LGB but much less positive for trans colleagues".
Another responded: "I answer [feeling safe coming out at work] as a gay man but not as a trans person". Freehold's co-chairs have been clear that now is the time for allies across the industry to show up and support the trans community.
As Freehold co-chair Kelly Canterford observed, "the challenge for our industry is no longer simply helping people come out at work, but ensuring they can succeed, lead and be themselves throughout their careers". Our industry prides itself on being a people business and, as Estates Gazette's legal editor Jess Harrold wrote in his editorial leader about the survey results, "we have to look after each and every one of our people".
Creating inclusive workplaces isn’t just about ticking compliance boxes; we know that people perform best when they are able to be themselves. As a membership body representing professionals across our industry, the PLA recognises that our profession depends upon attracting and retaining talented people from different backgrounds who are representative of our world today.
As Chhavie Kapoor, Chair of the PLA's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee notes, "an inclusive profession is a stronger profession. The PLA is committed to supporting its members in creating workplaces where everyone can thrive, and Freehold's survey is an important benchmark for measuring our progress."
I’d like to encourage all PLA members to engage with the Freehold results and consider how we can each play a part in ensuring the property industry is a welcoming, inclusive and supportive place for everyone.
You can read the full survey coverage, including Jess Harrold's editor's leader, in Estates Gazette.
Paul Barker
Vice Chair, Property Litigation Association