LOS ANGELES—CBRE's global chairman of research Raymond Torto has announced that he will retire from the firm on July 31, 2014. He has worked for the firm for over 30 years previously serving as a senior member of CBRE's research team and as its global chief economist.

“I think of my next stage as one of tapering the pace, but keeping involvement with the real estate industry and good friends,” Torto tells GlobeSt.com. “I will be at the Harvard Graduate School of Design teaching real estate to urban planning and design graduate students and mentoring their careers, and I am working on a text book for the course. I am also going to be a consultant to a major global developer on mixed-use investments and opportunities.”

Torto joined CBRE when the firm purchased Torto Wheaton Research of which Torto was a founding partner. He is recognized by his colleagues for building CBRE's research platform into one of the leading platforms in the world. Torto has written four books and a slew of professional and academic articles.  He is currently a visiting faculty member at Harvard University.

“I have so many friends here that leaving is not easy,” he says. “However, I will take with me many fond memories and great pride in all that we have accomplished – for CBRE and most especially for our clients.”

GlobeSt.com often reported Torto's research in market analysis stories. Recently, we reported his research on global retail markets trending up by 4%.