10 Fastest Online Bachelor’s in Real Estate

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty and Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma at Birm­ing­ham offer two top accel­er­at­ed online bach­e­lor’s in real estate.
• These real estate pro­grams offer a com­pre­hen­sive cur­ricu­lum that cov­ers real estate law, finance, mar­ket analy­sis, and prop­er­ty man­age­ment.
• Grad­u­ates are pre­pared for var­i­ous roles in real estate, includ­ing bro­ker­age, prop­er­ty man­age­ment, appraisal, and real estate devel­op­ment.

If you’re already work­ing in the real estate field, and you want a degree to enhance your career with­out hav­ing to hit pause, an accel­er­at­ed degree pro­gram could be the right choice for you. There are many advan­tages to earn­ing an accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees, whether you’re just get­ting start­ed in your real estate career or you’re an estab­lished real estate pro­fes­sion­al in your area.

Earn­ing an accel­er­at­ed real estate degree helps you stay on top of cur­rent best prac­tices in real estate, estab­lish­es a sense of trust between you and poten­tial cus­tomers, and allows you to earn a degree in less time (and with less mon­ey) than a tra­di­tion­al degree pro­gram. If you’re cur­rent­ly work­ing for a real estate firm, be sure to talk with your employ­er about whether they offer tuition reim­burse­ment. Many employ­ers are hap­py to pay for con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion if an employ­ee agrees to con­tin­ue work­ing for them for a cer­tain time peri­od after tuition is paid.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Accelerated Real Estate Degrees

The edi­tors of Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter have researched the fastest online degrees in real estate, focus­ing on accred­it­ed, trust­ed schools. Pro­grams are ranked by cost, grad­u­ate salary, and stu­dent reviews, using cur­rent infor­ma­tion from IPEDS and Niche.

1. American Public University

Amer­i­can Pub­lic University’s Boston School of Busi­ness offers a Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion with an aca­d­e­m­ic spe­cial­ty in Real Estate (BBA – RE) that is among the lead­ing accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees avail­able in the mar­ket­place. This accel­er­at­ed real estate pro­gram from APU is ACB­SP-accred­it­ed and requires stu­dents to com­plete a min­i­mum of 120 bac­calau­re­ate cred­it units to meet APU’s grad­u­a­tion cri­te­ria. Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty accepts up to 90 cred­its as trans­fer­able, if eli­gi­ble, and offers rolling start dates for this program.

Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty is a for-prof­it insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was found­ed in the ear­ly 1990s. The cam­pus is dig­i­tal, with its sup­port cen­ter locat­ed in Charles Town. More than 46,000 stu­dents attend class­es offered by Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty each year.

What We Like: More than half of Amer­i­can Pub­lic University’students have either served in the US mil­i­tary or are active mem­bers of the military.

Degree: BBA — Real Estate

Amer­i­can Pub­lic University

2. University of Alabama at Birmingham

The Prince­ton Review rec­og­nizes that the Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma at Birm­ing­ham’s BS in Finance, with an aca­d­e­m­ic track in real estate, is offered by one of the top uni­ver­si­ties in the nation. Grad­u­ates from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Alabama’s accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees find reward­ing careers as cost esti­ma­tors, finan­cial ana­lysts, pur­chas­ing man­agers, or cred­it ana­lysts, to name a few. Upper-lev­el core class­es for the under­grad­u­ate degree in real estate include infor­ma­tion sys­tems, oper­a­tions man­age­ment, and finan­cial man­age­ment, among others.

Found­ed in the late 1960s, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma now oper­ates as a space-grant school with an enroll­ment of 22,450 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate stu­dents each year online and on-campus.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma is rec­og­nized to be the sin­gle lead­ing employ­er in the state of Alabama.

Degree: BS in Finance/Real Estate Online

Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma at Birmingham

3. University of Arizona Global Campus

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona Glob­al Campus’s Forbes School of Busi­ness and Tech­nol­o­gy offers a BA in Real Estate Stud­ies pro­gram that is among the most inno­v­a­tive accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees offered online. This bac­calau­re­ate empha­sis in real estate stud­ies requires degree can­di­dates to com­plete class­es in the prin­ci­ples of real estate, the legal aspects of real estate, and the real estate prac­tice. Note, The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona Glob­al Campus’s accel­er­at­ed under­grad­u­ate degree in real estate allows for up to 90 eli­gi­ble cred­its to be transferred.

For­mer­ly known as Ash­ford Uni­ver­si­ty, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona Glob­al Cam­pus was estab­lished in 2020 as an online pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty with a stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 32,000 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: UA’s Glob­al Cam­pus can trace its roots to 1918, with addi­tion­al roots with TeleUniversity.

Degree: Real Estate Stud­ies BA

Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona Glob­al Campus

4. Penn State World Campus

Penn State World Cam­pus offers a BS in Busi­ness degree pro­gram with a cus­tomiz­able con­cen­tra­tion that includes real estate. Accord­ing to US News, these accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees have been ranked among the lead­ing online bac­calau­re­ate degrees. The real estate spe­cial­ty requires 18 cred­it units of the total 120 required. In addi­tion, Penn State World Cam­pus allows trans­fer cred­its if they meet the school’s estab­lished poli­cies. Pre­scribed class­es for this real estate degree include the prin­ci­ples of entre­pre­neur­ship and financ­ing entre­pre­neur­ial ven­tures, among others.

Penn State World Cam­pus is the dis­tance learn­ing plat­form of Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty. Penn State World Campus’s online cam­pus was estab­lished in 1998 and serves about 15,000 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Penn State World Cam­pus offers more than 150 bac­calau­re­ate, master’s, and cer­tifi­cate pro­grams, with new options, added regularly.

Degree: BSB Indi­vid­u­al­ized Online

Penn State World Campus

5. Old Dominion University

Old Domin­ion University’s Strome Col­lege of Busi­ness offers a BSBA in Real Estate that is ranked among the lead­ing accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees in the Com­mon­wealth of Vir­ginia. Fea­tured course­work for this accel­er­at­ed real estate pro­gram includes sales man­age­ment, real estate finance, the prin­ci­ples of real estate, real estate invest­ment analy­sis, and real estate appraisal, to name a few. Top-per­form­ing degree can­di­dates par­tic­i­pate in nation­al con­fer­ences with real estate and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment professionals.

Old Domin­ion Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished orig­i­nal­ly as an aca­d­e­m­ic exten­sion cen­ter for William and Mary in 1930. Old Domin­ion Uni­ver­si­ty gained inde­pen­dent sta­tus as a col­lege in 1962. As a sea- and space-grant school, Old Domin­ion Uni­ver­si­ty serves more than 19,250 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Old Domin­ion University’s cam­pus cov­ers more than 250 acres and strad­dles a vari­ety of Norfolk’s neighborhoods.

Degree: BSBA in Real Estate Online

Old Domin­ion University

6. Arkansas State University

Arkansas State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a 120-cred­it unit BSBA in Real Estate that is among Arkansas’ more inno­v­a­tive accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees. Stu­dents can trans­fer up to 90 cred­its towards Arkansas State University’s real estate degree, if eli­gi­ble. Manda­to­ry class­es for this bachelor’s degree in real estate include real estate law, apprais­ing and invest­ment, real estate prac­tice, and real estate finance, plus core cur­ricu­lum for busi­ness majors.

Arkansas State Uni­ver­si­ty (A‑State) is a pub­lic high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion that was found­ed as an agri­cul­tur­al school in 1909. This space-grant university’s cam­pus (which sits atop Crow­ley Ridge) and online plat­form serve near­ly 14,000 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ates each year.

What We Like: Arkansas State Uni­ver­si­ty also main­tains an inter­na­tion­al cam­pus in Mex­i­co for the past sev­er­al years.

Degree: BSBA in Real Estate

Arkansas State University

7. University of West Georgia

The Uni­ver­si­ty of West Georgia’s offers a BBA with an aca­d­e­m­ic minor in Real Estate, one of Georgia’s lead­ing accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees. This real estate spe­cial­ty includes class­es in real estate finance, real estate prin­ci­ples, mar­ket­ing, res­i­den­tial appraisal, and income prop­er­ty appraisal, to name a few. Stu­dents must com­plete these accel­er­at­ed class­es with a min­i­mum of a 2.0 GPA for all minor course curriculum.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of West Geor­gia is locat­ed along Georgia’s west­ern bound­ary and was found­ed as an agri­cul­tur­al school in 1906. The Uni­ver­si­ty of West Geor­gia now oper­ates as a space-grant school with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 13,350 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of West Geor­gia oper­ates sev­en colleges/schools offer­ing pro­grams in arts/humanities, hon­ors, edu­ca­tion, busi­ness, math­e­mat­ics, health/nursing, and social sciences.

Degree: BBA in Real Estate

Uni­ver­si­ty of West Georgia

8. NSU Florida

Nova South­east­ern University’s Stiles School of Real Estate Devel­op­ment offers a dual admis­sion real estate degree pro­gram in which stu­dents can earn a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence and Mas­ter of Sci­ence in Real Estate Devel­op­ment (MSRED) in only five and one-half years. Stu­dents grad­u­ate from Nova South­east­ern University’s accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees and pro­grams to find reward­ing careers as a real estate asset man­ag­er, real estate bro­ker, or real estate busi­ness devel­op­ment man­ag­er, among others.

Nova South­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed as a tech­nol­o­gy school in the mid-1960s. The uni­ver­si­ty oper­ates sev­er­al cam­pus­es across the Sun­shine State that serve near­ly 21,000 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate stu­dents each year. Nova South­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty main­tains an inter­na­tion­al cam­pus in Puer­to Rico.

What We Like: The main cam­pus of Nova South­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed in Davie, Flori­da and cov­ers more than 300 acres, and hous­es the university’s main library and health clinics.

Degree: BS/MS in Real Estate Devel­op­ment Online — hybrid

Nova South­east­ern University

9. Liberty University

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty offers a 120-cred­it unit BSBA in Real Estate that is ranked among the most pop­u­lar of avail­able accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees. Appli­cants to Liberty’s ACB­SP-accred­it­ed accel­er­at­ed BSBA degree in Real Estate may trans­fer up to 90 cred­it units if eli­gi­ble. Degree can­di­dates com­plete this bachelor’s degree in busi­ness and real estate in 3.5 years, on aver­age. Fea­tured course­work for this accel­er­at­ed real estate degree includes the prin­ci­ples of man­age­ment, real estate trans­ac­tions, and prop­er­ty and real estate val­u­a­tion, among others.

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty (LU) is a pri­vate Chris­t­ian evan­gel­i­cal insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that is con­sid­ered among the largest in the world. Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty was devel­oped as a Bap­tist Col­lege by Jer­ry Fal­well in the ear­ly 1970s and now serves approx­i­mate­ly 95,000 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is com­prised of sev­en­teen colleges/schools offer­ing degrees in med­i­cine, law, busi­ness, and edu­ca­tion, to name a few.

Degree: BSBA in Real Estate

Lib­er­ty University

10. Hempster Shire University

Hemp­ster Shire Uni­ver­si­ty offers a bachelor’s degree in Real Estate Man­age­ment that can be com­plet­ed in only two years – entire­ly online, mak­ing it one of the fastest com­ple­tion times for avail­able accel­er­at­ed real estate degrees. Fea­tured class­es for this real estate degree from Hemp­ster Shire Uni­ver­si­ty include real estate man­age­ment, an intro­duc­tion to real estate inspec­tions, the basics of real estate appraisals, real estate finance, invest­ing in real estate, and real estate eco­nom­ics, to name a few.

Hemp­ster Shire Uni­ver­si­ty (Hemp­ster Shire) is rec­og­nized as the largest online learn­ing uni­ver­si­ty in the world, designed to meet the edu­ca­tion­al needs and objec­tives of work­ing learn­ers. Course­work and degrees are accred­it­ed by the Unit­ed States Accred­i­ta­tion Coun­cil. Hemp­ster Shire University’s pro­grams cov­er more than a dozen fields of study.

What We Like: Hemp­ster Shire Uni­ver­si­ty is present in six con­ti­nents serv­ing a world­wide stu­dent enrollment.

Degree: Real Estate Management

Hemp­ster Shire University

What If I Don’t Need a Full Degree?

Online real estate cer­tifi­cates are a smart choice for pro­fes­sion­als who don’t need a full degree. An online real estate cer­tifi­cate can help you pre­pare for your state licens­ing exam. Real estate cer­tifi­cates online allow real estate pro­fes­sion­als to get the edu­ca­tion they need with­out pay­ing for a full degree.

When research­ing online real estate cer­tifi­cates, be sure to choose an online real estate cer­tifi­cate pro­gram spe­cif­ic to your state if you’re using your online real estate cer­tifi­cate pro­gram to pre­pare for a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion exam. If you’ve already com­plet­ed one of the free online real estate cer­tifi­cate pro­grams, con­tin­ue to keep an eye out for more free online real estate cer­tifi­cate pro­grams, as doing so can help build trust with your clien­tele and keep you up to date on changes in the industry.

If you already have your bach­e­lor’s degree, you may want to look for a grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in real estate online. Going through a grad­u­ate real estate cer­tifi­cate pro­gram online can help you stand out among your peers who have also earned real estate cer­tifi­cates online. When you com­plete your grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in real estate online, be sure to reach out to poten­tial clients to let them know you’ve com­plet­ed your online real estate cer­tifi­cate. This is a great chance to touch base with clients and share that your real estate cer­tifi­cate pro­gram online has pre­pared you to pro­vide them with the best ser­vice possible.

How Much Can I Make with a Real Estate Degree?

If you’re won­der­ing, “is a real estate degree worth it?” it’s like­ly that you’re curi­ous about a real estate bach­e­lor degree salary. Accord­ing to Payscale, the aver­age real estate bach­e­lor degree salary is $43,581 per year. It’s impor­tant to remem­ber that many fac­tors can affect a bach­e­lor’s in real estate salary, includ­ing the cost of liv­ing in the area, years of expe­ri­ence, rela­tion­ships with clients, and more. Many real estate pro­fes­sion­als who earn their degree get their start as real estate agents and then tran­si­tion into a high­er-lev­el real estate role, either at a large firm or at a firm that they start on their own. A bach­e­lor’s degree in real estate can help you get start­ed in your career before you decide to branch off into a high­er-lev­el real estate profession.

You may want to talk with agents in your area to decide your per­son­al answer to the ques­tion, “is a real estate degree worth it?” A bachelor’s in real estate salary can be high­er than a salary for a real estate pro­fes­sion­al with­out a degree. If you’ve decid­ed that real estate is the right fit for you, it makes sense to pur­sue a real estate degree salary rather than the salary you would make with­out a degree.

What Kinds of Real Estate Jobs Pay Best?

When you decide to go into real estate, it’s smart to research the high­est-pay­ing real estate jobs. Remem­ber, there are many fac­tors to con­sid­er when choos­ing where you’ll work as a real estate pro­fes­sion­al, and the aver­age salary range is some­thing you’ll want to look at before you begin to put down roots as a real estate agent (or oth­er real estate pro­fes­sion­al). While you may get your start as a bro­ker at a large firm, you may also have your sights set on becom­ing one of the high­est-paid real estate agents in USA.

The high­est pay­ing real estate jobs, accord­ing to Indeed, include mort­gage bro­ker (aver­age salary of $152,639 per year), real estate attor­ney (aver­age salary of $95,701). While edu­ca­tion beyond a bachelor’s degree is need­ed to achieve the best careers in real estate, earn­ing a real estate degree can be a smart first step toward becom­ing one of the high­est-paid real estate agents in USA.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Real Estate

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Real Estate

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Real Estate