How CBRE Nabbed Top Brokerage Spot in Annual RCA Review
Real Capital Analytics releases its annual ranking of the top brokerage firms in the global commercial real estate market for 2020.
CBRE is the top brokerage firm in the global commercial real estate market, according to Real Capital Analytics. The data firm has released the Top Global Investment Brokers 2020, its annual ranking of the top brokerage firms in the global commercial real estate market for 2020, handing CBRE the top spot, followed by JLL and Cushman & Wakefield to round out the top three firms internationally.
To determine the rankings, RCA analyzes 520 brokerage firms globally looking at sell-side activity. CBRE earned the top spot by out ranking other firms in all three global zones: the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and, Asia Pacific.
In second place overall, JLL ranked second in the EMEA and the Americas regions and third in Asia Pacific compared to other firms. BNP Paribas, Savills and Newmark also had notable rankings. BNP Paribas ranked third in the EMEA region, Savills came in second in the Asia Pacific region, and Newmark ranked third in the Americas.
In total, brokers at the firms analyzed completed transaction volume totaling $444 billion last year. This was the lowest level of transaction volume in 2013, illustrating the tremendous impact of the pandemic. In New York City alone, transaction volumes fell 50% last year to $22.1 billion, the lowest levels since 2010, according to research from Cushman & Wakefield.
CBRE also took the top ranking for smaller transaction sales volumes in an inaugural survey by Green Street in which it ranked top brokerage firms in sales of properties in the $5 million to $25 million range in 2020. CBRE led the 35 firms analyzed, followed by Cushman & Wakefield, Marcus & Millichap, Newmark, Colliers and JLL, rounding out the top five.
Small property transaction volumes also fell in 2020. According to Real Estate Alert, a total of $37.9 billion small properties sold last year, compared to $49.4 billion in 2019—a 23.3% decrease year-over-year. The report notes that assets valued in excess of $25 million saw deal velocity decrease by 34.6% during that same period.