Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which variations in gender, socioeconomic and academic background influence real estate students’ academic performance in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach Data for the study were collected using self-administered questionnaire, served on final year real estate students in two of the three Federal universities offering real estate as a course in Southwestern Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed using mean, frequency count, percentages, independent t -test, correlation and analysis of variance. Findings The result of the study suggests there is no statistically significant difference in the academic performance of Nigerian real estate students based on gender and socioeconomic background. Research limitations/implications The study has been limited to the sensitivity of either gender to possibly constraining socioeconomic and academic factors that might have served as barriers, especially among female students, in achieving outstanding academic performance. Originality/value This paper presents one of the few attempts examining gender and socioeconomic perspectives to factors influencing real estate students’ academic performance, especially from the perception of an emerging African country like Nigeria.