Cushman & Wakefield Fortifies Balance Sheet With Strong Q3 Earnings

Cushman & Wakefield reported earnings growth across leasing and capital business lines as the brokerage prepares itself for the markets of tomorrow.

With revenue reaching $2.8 billion in the third quarter of 2026, compared to $2.6 billion during the same period last year, and net income at $52.1 million compared to $51.4 million last year, C&W has managed to keep earnings generally high while making reforms across the business, according to executives on the firm’s third-quarter earnings call Wednesday morning.

Leasing revenue in the Americas alone was up 19 percent and capital markets transactions grew 24 percent annually, while overall earnings reached $5.2 million.

“We’ve done the difficult work, lowered our interest costs and our leverage, earning recent rating upgrades from both Moody’s and S&P Global and generating stronger free cash flow,” Michelle MacKay, global CEO of C&W, said in a statement. “Simply put, our balance sheet has been transformed. We enter this next period from a position of increasing stability and flexibility. Having executed our deleveraging plan, we expect to move to a more balanced capital allocation strategy.”

Since 2024, C&W has paid off $800 million in debt, leaving the company in a more nimble position, MacKay said.

But MacKay said there are macroeconomic factors that could be perceived as negative. Those factors include rising interest rates, leading deals to be repriced, and a standstill in delivery of new construction. However, the brokerage is looking for opportunities to make the best of that environment.

One trend C&W is responding to is demand from clients to achieve savings for them, which the brokerage is doing by expanding its teams to bring services in-house rather than contracting work to outside firms.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.