CBRE Earnings Exceed Expectations With Boosts in Leasing, Infrastructure Services 

CBRE beat analysts’ expectations in its first-quarter earnings, aided by growth in its capital markets and leasing businesses while also generating new opportunities in infrastructure services. 

The brokerage giant posted earnings per share of $1.61, up from 89 cents in the year-ago period and well above analysts’ estimates of $1.13 per share. Total revenues jumped 18.6 percent to $10.53 billion compared to forecasts of $10.16 billion.

“This reflects our strategy to grow businesses that are resistant to real estate cycles or benefit from secular tailwinds,” Bob Sulentic, chairman and CEO of CBRE, said during Thursday morning’s first-quarter earnings call. 

Leasing revenue in the U.S. rose 24 percent year-over-year, paced by a 38 percent growth in office, 34 percent in retail and 12 percent in industrial properties. Global leasing revenue jumped 18 percent. 

On the capital markets side, CBRE saw a 52 percent rise in mortgage origination revenues, while property sales increased 26 percent in the U.S. and 11 percent globally.  

Sulentic noted that CBRE created a newly dedicated infrastructure services business line, which generated more than $3 billion of total revenue in 2025 and nearly $950 million in 2016’s first quarter for work involving data centers, telecom and power assets. CBRE’s data center leasing nearly tripled in the first quarter compared to the first three months of 2025, underscoring the increased demand for artificial intelligence and presenting major growth opportunities, according to Sulentic. 

“AI is creating a considerable secular tailwind for our company right now, and it’s fairly broad based to the point where I think our move into critical infrastructure is going to be at least as profound as our move into outsourcing was in the `90s and early 2000s, and much faster,” Sulentic said. 

CBRE’s fourth-quarter earnings report was released in February, just a day after its stock tumbled as part of the “AI Scare Trade” affecting the wider real estate brokerage industry. Shares fell to as low as $136.29 per share on Feb. 12 but have since recovered and were at $155.20 at the close of trading Wednesday. 

Sulentic added that CBRE is utilizing AI to enhance efficiency, particularly for its research units and offshore service centers. While he said there will be some workforce cuts in some areas, Sulentic stressed that brokers supply integral services to close transactions, work that can’t be done by machines. 

“The real value in that business comes from that creative, strategic thinking,” Sulentic said. “I’m sure there’s going to be ways AI does stuff that hasn’t been done before and we’re all going to figure that out over time, but we think we’re reasonably well protected there.”

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.