Commercial real estate brokerage JLL more than doubled its profit and posted big gains in leasing and property sales as dealmaking picked up across the industry in the third quarter.
The Chicago-based company said revenue increased 15% to nearly $5.9 billion from the prior-year quarter, fueled by double-digit gains in leased space, capital markets and what it called its “resilient” businesses such as property and project management.
JLL reported a profit of $155.1 million in the quarter — up sharply from the $59.7 million a year earlier — as the company’s results were boosted by accelerating activity across all its main businesses.
“The results reflect our strength in transaction markets that are still in the early stages of recovery,” CEO Christian Ulbrich told investors during an earnings call on Wednesday.
JLL joined CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers International and Newmark in reporting increases in leasing that helped drive higher revenue, activity that added to promising signs of recovery in property markets.
A 34% jump in office leasing led transaction revenue gains for JLL as the firm benefited from increases in both the size and total volume of lease deals, Chief Financial Officer Karen Brennan said.
"We continue to see growth in active tenant requirements and demand for high-quality assets," Brennan said.
Ulbrich joined other brokerage executives over the past two weeks in noting that interest rate reductions, improved debt availability and pent-up investor demand have contributed to double-digit increases in investment and debt and equity sales.
JLL posted a 14% increase in capital markets revenue in the quarter, led by transactions in the United States and Europe, with a notable uptick in deals for hotel, office and industrial properties, Ulbrich said.
Ulbrich expects investment sales activity to pick up through the end of this year and beyond, with strong interest from international investors looking to place capital in U.S. real estate, Ulbrich added.
“The capital markets environment has improved pretty steadily over the last couple of months," he said. "We see this significant demand coming from those [international] investors, with strong support into 2025."
JLL also saw a larger-than-expected 20% revenue increase in its Work Dynamics workplace management segment over the year-earlier quarter driven largely by expansion in the United States.