Real estate’s most powerful women have fallen from the C-suite

Real estate is at the center of many of the issues driving American politics right now. Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York with a promise to freeze the rent. The business lobby that spent millions to prevent his election included many from the industry. President Donald Trump, real estate mogul, always has an eye on the industry from his perch in the White House. His administration has overhauled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And a longtime reliance on undocumented workers in construction, combined with Trump’s deportation agenda, threatens a labor shortage.  

And just as real estate takes over political discourse, many of the women who have been at the top of the industry are stepping away—losing valuable voices and leaders in a complex moment. In just a matter of months, two of the most powerful women in real estate lost their jobs. Priscilla Almodovar left Fannie Mae in October after nearly three years in her post, and the mortgage-loan purchaser never explicitly said why—although it coincides with Trump’s contemplation of taking the organization public. This was just months after former Freddie Mac CEO Diana Reid was fired during a leadership shakeup by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director at the time.

Almodovar was the only Latina to lead a Fortune 500 company, managing a $4 trillion financial organization. Reid was the first and only woman to serve as chief executive of Freddie Mac. And both were replaced by men.

Other women in real estate recently fell from major leadership positions: Carrie Wheeler stepped down as CEO of Opendoor, an online real estate marketplace with a $5 billion market cap in August due to mounting pressure from activist investors, and Michelle Ressler, chief financial officer of rising cloud-based firm Real Brokerage was terminated in April amid allegations of expense policy violations (which she disputes). She then filed a lawsuit alleging pregnancy discrimination (the firm hasn’t commented). 

Women were leading these organizations during particularly tumultuous times—from transformation periods at Fannie, Freddie, and Opendoor to a housing affordability crisis. 

Like in many industries, women are missing at the top in real estate, while making up the bulk—60%—of the rank-and-file workforce. In this industry, women hold 9% of C-suite roles, according to September data from Commercial Real Estate Women Network and the MIT Center for Real Estate. Only 30% of women in the real estate industry even say they aspire to the C-suite, down from 32% in 2020, CREW Network CEO Alison Beddard told Fortune. 

Real estate’s recent changes are reflective of broader trends. Women’s C-suite representation is “stalling,” says Columbia Business School’s Mabel Abraham, who studies gender equity in the workplace.  “It’s not only that women aren’t advancing at prior rates, it’s that some of the women who’ve reached the top are now leaving those roles,” she says. 

The hope among industry women like Beddard is that these leaders will continue to “impact housing and real estate in their next roles”—whatever those may be. 

Sydney Lake
sydney.lake@fortune.com

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PARTING WORDS

"The way she approached being first lady was very much like a working woman. She came in there and she was like, 'I’m here to do a job.'"

— Meredith Koop on styling Michelle Obama. Their new book about the first lady's fashion journey is The Look.