If you look at the numbers alone, it’s undeniable that Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets is on an upward trajectory. Having completed $60 billion in investment sales and debt and equity transactions globally in 2011, the firm’s deal volume equated to nearly $216 million of trades completed around the globe last year. In the US, the company grew its total capital markets volume by 122% in 2011 and is quickly gaining market share across all property types—multifamily sales volume was up more than 1,000% from 2010 to 2011, and as of May the group’s sales volume in office was already 65% of 2011’s total.

JLL’s first-quarter 2012 reports show volume for capital markets and hotels up 41% in the Americas and up 35% globally. Loan sales volume in 2011 was more than quadruple that of 2010, reaching $4.5 billion vs. $1 billion the prior year. In terms of growth, the firm’s capital markets team now comprises more than 1,200 specialists operating all over the globe, 70% of which have joined the company within the past two years.

Clearly, the capital markets business contributes significantly to JLL’s overall enterprise. Last year, the group represented 12% of the firm’s global revenues, and while this number is off from the 22% contribution it made at the market’s peak in 2007, it is still one of its most noteworthy year-over-year growth areas. At year-end 2011, the group was up 45% over 2010’s figures globally, and in the Americas its revenue rose 62% in 2011. These are big jumps to make, but they are directly related to JLL putting the right revenue-generating teams in place at the downturn. Jumps like these would also not have been possible without the strength of JLL’s balance sheet, which many other firms did not—and still do not—have...