If you're seeking a Master's Degree in real estate development, you will have fewer peers than average since the major degree program is the #206 one in the country in terms of popularity.This may make is a little harder to find a school that is a good fit for you.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Real Estate Development Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 54 master's degrees in real estate development during the 2022-2023 academic year.
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on real estate development students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of real estate development students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt real estate development students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized real estate development related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for real estate development students working on their master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Real Estate Development Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Real Estate Development in the Southwest Region
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for real estate development students seeking a a master's degree.
Top Southwest Region Schools for a Master's in Real Estate Dev
Arizona State University - Tempe is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in real estate development. ASU - Tempe is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Tempe.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the real estate dev program earn an average of $74,032 for their early career.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).