Real Estate

⚠⚠⚠ Two different careers share this word, and the degree belongs to the one most people are not thinking of. Florida's 8 public institutions award 408 real estate credentials — 180 bachelor's and 138 MASTER'S — in finance, investment, development and appraisal. ⚠⚠ The licence to sell houses is 63 classroom hours and needs no degree at all.

The degrees this program covers

⚠⚠⚠ THE DEGREE IS NOT THE SALES LICENCE, AND CONFUSING THEM WASTES YEARS. To work as a real estate sales associate in Florida you need a pre-licensing course that s. 475.17, F.S. caps at 63 classroom hours of 50 minutes each inclusive of examination — roughly 52 actual hours, about a week and a half — plus the state examination and a background check. No degree is required and employers report 52% accepting a high school diploma and 22% less than that. ⚠⚠ What the DEGREE prepares you for is the other half of the industry: commercial real estate finance, investment analysis, development, appraisal and portfolio management. That is a different job, with different employers, different hours and a salary rather than a commission. ⚠ 138 of Florida's 408 credentials are MASTER'S degrees, which tells you plainly which half the academic programmes serve. ⚠⚠ THE COURSE CATALOGUE SPLITS THE SAME WAY. REE1040 Real Estate Principles and Practices is carried by 5 STATE COLLEGES (Broward, Eastern Florida, Indian River, Pasco-Hernando, St Petersburg) — the practical entry. REE3043 Real Estate Principles is carried by 7 UNIVERSITIES and REE4204 Real Estate Finance by 8, all of them universities. ⚠ 77 undergraduate course numbers against 51 graduate ones in a prefix that barely exists below the 3000 level. ⚠ Largest producers: FIU 135, Florida State 88, UCF 62, Palm Beach State 58, UF 33, Valencia 32.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Real Estate Agent, Broker and Analyst

⚠⚠⚠ The licence to sell property in Florida is 63 classroom hours — about a week and a half — and employers report 52% accepting a high school diploma and 22% less than that. ⚠⚠ Meanwhile Florida's universities award 408 real estate credentials a year, 138 of them MASTER'S. Those two facts describe different jobs that share a word, and choosing between them is what this page is for.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Urban and Regional Planner

⚠ The development side of the same decisions: a planner working for a developer navigates the plan from outside.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Finance 14 Florida schools

⚠⚠⚠ The nearest neighbour and, for the degree half of this field, effectively the same subject. Real estate finance, investment analysis and valuation are finance disciplines applied to buildings — REE4204 Real Estate Finance and REE4303 Real Estate Finance and Investment are carried at 8 and 6 universities respectively. ⚠ If the analytical side is the draw, finance is the more portable degree and is taught more widely.

Construction Management 30 Florida schools

⚠⚠ Where real estate development actually happens. The developer side of this industry needs to understand what a building costs and how long it takes, and construction management is where that is taught. ⚠ A genuine and underadvertised pairing for anyone interested in development rather than transactions.

Business Administration and Management 45 Florida schools

⚠ The substitute most people in this industry actually hold. Real estate as a named degree exists at 8 Florida institutions; general business is far more widely taught and reaches the same commercial roles with a real estate concentration or the REE courses taken as electives.

Marketing 21 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the sales half: residential real estate is a customer-acquisition business, and the agents who last are the ones who can build and keep a pipeline. ⚠⚠ Nothing in the 63-hour pre-licensing course teaches that, which is why most new licensees leave.

Accounting 50 Florida schools

⚠ Named because a real estate agent is a self-employed business and most new licensees do not realise it until the first tax year. ⚠⚠ Commission income, deductible expenses and quarterly estimated tax are the practical curriculum nobody sells you.

Urban and Regional Planning 5 Florida schools

⚠ The other side of the zoning table: developers and their consultants hire planners to navigate the same comprehensive plans and land-development codes.

Florida public institutions offering this program

8 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Associate, Bachelor's, Certificate (<12 weeks), Certificate (12 weeks-1 year), Master's. A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Florida International University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Certificate (<12 weeks)

Florida State University

Bachelor's

Palm Beach State College

Certificate (<12 weeks)

University of Central Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

University of Florida

Master's

University of South Florida

Master's

Valencia College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only — the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023 will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.

Updated 22 September 2026. ⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.