CBRE Internship 2027–2028: Programs, Deadlines & How to Apply

Last updated: August 2026

CBRE is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm, with $40.6 billion of FY2025 revenue, more than 155,000 employees, clients in more than 100 countries, and a Fortune 500 #118 ranking.

Yet on the day this guide was written, not one of its US student programs had a working application link. Three “Apply Now” buttons on CBRE’s own internship pages led to dead requisitions, a fourth led to a form marked “no longer active,” and its investment-management arm had cancelled US interns for 2027 outright.

But that’s normal: CBRE’s board goes dark every summer, and the main wave is expected to reopen in late September or early October 2026, roughly four to six weeks from now.

Quick Facts

CBRE opens its US summer internship applications roughly eight to nine months before the internship starts. Its own campus timeline says applications open late September, close in mid-to-late November, and offers go out by the end of March. This is a hard-deadline employer: CBRE reviews after the cutoff, not on arrival.

Externships are short, remote programs where you finish a real project with a real company. The Yinan Zhao Investing & Financial Modeling Externship builds the financial analysis and modelling evidence a CBRE application needs, and the Attronica Financial Planning & Analysis Externship turns classroom accounting into a finished valuation project. Explore all Externships.

What Is a CBRE Internship?

A CBRE internship is a paid placement that typically runs 8 to 10 weeks between early June and early August across commercial real estate brokerage, technology, investment accounting, property management, and finance tracks. The flagship Sales & Brokerage program places interns in 16 US cities, partnered with top sales and leasing professionals on live deals. And CBRE is a Fortune Most Admired company for 16 consecutive years and the #1 real estate company in 2026, with a Glassdoor rating of 3.8 and a National Intern Day Top 100 Internship Programs badge.

But here’s the catch most students won’t see: on any given August day, every application link is dead, and the window is only about eight weeks long.

When Do CBRE Internship Applications Open for 2027–2028?

CBRE doesn’t publish its US application calendar on its own website, so you read it from its behavior, which is consistent. A CBRE-authored campus-recruiting deck spells out the sequence: applications open late September or early October, close in mid-to-late November, and offers go out by the end of March. And hard posting dates from CBRE’s own requisitions confirm it: the main brokerage wave posted on 30 September 2025 for summer 2026, and on similar dates in 2022 and 2023.

So when do summer 2027 applications open? Expected in late September to early October 2026, roughly four to six weeks from now, with a hard deadline in mid-to-late November.

How to read this page: our dates come from tracking previous recruiting cycles and daily posting data. Treat them as informed estimates based on historical patterns, not confirmed dates. The company's official careers page is always the most current source. If a role is posted there, go by that, even if this page suggests the window hasn't opened yet.

Why You Must Apply the Week Applications Open

CBRE is a hard-deadline employer, and that changes the math. Its own campus-recruiting deck says applications close in mid-to-late November, and one requisition spells out what happens next: “The application will stay open until January 1st, at which point we will review applicants and identify candidates moving into our selection process.” There’s no rolling queue to join. CBRE reviews nothing until the door shuts, then runs a fixed downstream sequence through March.

So the deadline isn’t soft, and CBRE’s own Digital & Technology page warns that its application stays open only six to eight weeks. The one softener: a secondary fill-in wave of local requisitions posts February to April (the 2026 cycle saw brokerage reqs in Indianapolis and Palo Alto go up in early April for a 1 June start), so missing November is survivable, just not the route most people get in by.

Which CBRE Internship Programs Should You Target?

CBRE’s students hub lists 10 featured programs, but they differ sharply in length, pay tier, deadline, and whether they’re internships at all. Six tracks map to real requisitions or documented program pages. Which should you target? Start with where you can live at your own cost, because six of fifteen requisitions refuse relocation and housing outright.

See the full list on the Students & Graduates hub. Four Capital Markets Academy fellowships also exist, but they’re online educational programs, not internships, and three of four currently have no working application link. CBRE also publishes free Forage virtual job simulations, which are the only CBRE-branded student activity available right now.

What Are the Eligibility Requirements?

Across 15 CBRE intern requisitions read in full:

• Class year: 8 of 15 say “current college junior, senior, or graduate level student.” The GWS track wants a full-time MBA student; the GIS role accepts students in a 2- or 4-year program. Two IA&R requisitions state no class-year requirement at all.

• Work authorization: “Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future” appears in 7 of 15, and in the two 2026 brokerage reqs it appears twice. And six are silent, which isn’t permission.

• Relocation and housing: 6 of 15 explicitly refuse both. The Cincinnati requisition is blunt: “Please only apply if you can commit to relocation to Cincinnati without financial assistance.”

• AI-use disclosure: new in 2026, in 3 of 15 of the newest postings: “We ask that candidates disclose any use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the application and interview process.”

Does CBRE Have a GPA Cutoff?

CBRE publishes a GPA on exactly one internship page: the Financial Consulting Group asks for a minimum of 3.5 preferred, and “preferred” is the operative word. The live GIS internship requires 3.0. Every other requisition asks instead for a “strong academic background.” So the real gates are US work authorization without sponsorship, being able to live in the city at your own cost, and for the technology track, picking one of five tracks and only one.

What Skills Does CBRE Look For, and How Do You Build Them?

Fifteen CBRE intern job descriptions across eight functions repeat one profile with unusual consistency. MS Office, specifically Word and Excel by name, appears in 14 of 15. So do strong written and oral communication and a stated desire to work in commercial real estate. But the differentiator that separates CBRE from generic “real estate intern” postings is the named software: Argus, Salesforce and Tableau appear together in 7 of 15 and on CBRE’s own brokerage program page. Across the whole US real-estate intern market, Argus shows up in about 1 in 1,000 postings while Excel is in 42%. So naming Argus and Tableau on a CBRE application is a genuine differentiator, not a box tick.

How Is Demand for Real Estate Interns Moving Right Now?

Build These Skills Before You Apply

And every bar in the chart maps to a remote Externship that ends in a finished company project.

How close is the overlap? The Yinan Zhao deliverable is investment analysis in the vocabulary CBRE’s own Finance and FCG tracks use, and the Attronica project is a finished valuation, the artifact an IA&R or Finance application can point at. Extern has no commercial-real-estate Externship and no Argus or CoStar training. These build the modelling, diligence, and market-research evidence CBRE’s requisitions reward, not the CRE software itself.

What Is the CBRE Application and Interview Process Like?

CBRE’s process is a batch system, not a rolling one:

1. Go to the board, not the program pages. careers.cbre.com is the source of truth. CBRE’s program pages currently link to three dead requisitions and one dead form, and three of them have no apply button at all.

2. Join the Talent Community first, because CBRE doesn’t publish its dates and the technology window is only six to eight weeks long.

3. Pick the track, then the city. There’s no umbrella CBRE internship application. Sales & Brokerage, Digital & Technology, Investment Accounting, GWS, Property Management, Finance, and FCG are separate applications with different deadlines, pay tiers, and lengths. For Digital & Technology you must choose one of five tracks and can’t be considered for another.

4. Apply online, and disclose AI use. CBRE’s 2026 requisitions ask candidates to “disclose any use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the application and interview process.”

5. Then wait for the batch. CBRE reviews after the cutoff, not on arrival: “The application will stay open until January 1st, at which point we will review applicants and identify candidates moving into our selection process.”

6. Follow the published sequence. From CBRE’s own campus deck: November resume screening, December digital interviews, January second-round invitations (a one-on-one Zoom with an internship committee member), February second and final rounds, offers out by the end of March.

Across 78 Glassdoor intern interview reviews, difficulty rates 2.6 out of 5 with 79% describing a positive experience.

And average time to hire is about 32 days, with roughly 85% of intern candidates applying online rather than through campus recruiting.

What Students on Reddit Say

Three threads, from the industry.

How Do You Stand Out When the Door Is Only Open Eight Weeks?

Three moves, starting with the alert. Get on CBRE’s Talent Community now, because CBRE publishes no US application calendar and the technology window is only six to eight weeks long. The talent community sign-up is the only mechanism CBRE offers. Second, apply in the city you can already afford to live in. Six of the fifteen requisitions refuse relocation and housing outright, and the Cincinnati posting says it plainly: “Please only apply if you can commit to relocation to Cincinnati without financial assistance.” And third, bring the software CBRE names, not the software the industry talks about.

Excel and Word appear in 14 of 15 CBRE intern requisitions. Argus, Salesforce and Tableau appear together as “a plus” in 7 of 15 and on CBRE’s own brokerage program page. Across the whole US real-estate intern market Argus shows up in roughly 1 in 1,000 postings while Excel is in 42%. Naming Argus and Tableau on a CBRE application is a genuine differentiator rather than a box tick.

What Other Companies Should You Consider?

CBRE’s peers are the commercial real estate services giants, and their calendars don’t move in lockstep.

For more in real estate, see our Real Estate Internships Guide.

FAQ

Can I still apply for a summer 2026 CBRE internship?

No. CBRE’s summer 2026 internships ran from 1 June to late July or early August 2026, and those requisitions are gone. And the summer 2027 cycle hasn’t opened yet either. One track is already settled: CBRE Investment Management states it won’t hire interns or analysts in the US for 2027.

When do CBRE internship applications open for summer 2027?

Expected in late September or early October 2026. CBRE’s own campus timeline says applications open late September, close in mid-to-late November, and offers go out by the end of March.

And its summer-2026 requisitions posted on 30 September 2025, so the technology application stays open only six to eight weeks.

Are CBRE internships rolling?

No. CBRE’s campus timeline says applications close in November and resume screening begins only then. One requisition states the application “will stay open until January 1st, at which point we will review applicants.”

And nothing in the fifteen requisitions we read mentions rolling review, applying early, or open until filled.

What GPA does CBRE require for an internship?

CBRE publishes a GPA on only one internship page: the Financial Consulting Group asks for a minimum of 3.5 preferred. The live GIS internship requires 3.0. Every other requisition asks instead for a “strong academic background.” The harder gate is US work authorization without sponsorship.

How much do CBRE interns get paid?

CBRE’s own postings list $17 to $22 an hour for undergraduate interns, depending on the state, and $30 to $40 an hour for the MBA-level GWS Summer Associate role. The live GIS internship pays $22 an hour part-time. CBRE states it offers no relocation assistance and no housing.

Does CBRE sponsor visas for interns?

No, where it says anything. Seven of the fifteen CBRE intern job descriptions we read state that applicants “must be currently authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.” Two more require the right to work by the start date. Six say nothing, which isn’t permission.

What is the CBRE intern interview process like?

Expect a phone screen followed by interviews with the team you’d join. Across 78 Glassdoor intern reports, difficulty rates 2.6 out of 5 with 79% describing a positive experience, and average time to hire is about 32 days. Roughly 85% applied online rather than through campus recruiting.

What skills does CBRE look for in interns?

Across fifteen CBRE intern job descriptions, Microsoft Word and Excel appear in fourteen, written and oral communication in fourteen, and a stated interest in commercial real estate in fourteen. Seven name Argus, Salesforce and Tableau as a plus.

But the technology track asks instead for coding skills and Agile.

CBRE’s board is empty today, and it’s supposed to be. The main wave is expected in late September to early October 2026, roughly four to six weeks from now, and the door shuts in mid-to-late November. Spend the runway on proof: a remote Externship turns “I’m interested in commercial real estate” into a finished project a week-one application can point at.