Sean Ryan is associate editor of Real Estate New Jersey

PARSIPPANY, NJ-Coldwell Banker Commercial has opened 14 new offices this year, said George Slusser, president and COO, during the firm's state of the brand conference call and has plans to open even more. California has five new offices, Florida and Texas each have two, and Alabama, Colorado, Kentucky, Montana, and New Jersey each have one. Slusser also says Coldwell has signed some "significant" new companies that weren't named because they're not open yet.

CBC's adjusted gross commission is $104 million as of April 30, according to Jacklene Chesler, senior vice president. That total represents a 14% increase from last year, and the average sales price of a transaction is up 22% from last year.

Retail edged out office as Coldwell's largest source of transactions, with retail's 25% of business to office's 23%. Industrial properties accounts for 15%, multifamily has 8%, mixed use was 3%, hotels, were 0.5%, land was 13.5%. Other transactions made up the remaining 12%.

The office market was the hardest hit of all real estate during the economic recession, says Randy Fuchs, a principal and commercial real estate analyst from Boxwood Means. Its recovery is under way, with the first overall round of rent increases for the office market in 15 quarters.

Fuchs doesn't anticipate a bubble in the commercial side of the real estate business, citing the historic lack of real estate price declines, as well as its modest gains in the past few years. On the single-family end, Fuchs isn't as optimistic. "When you see Cushman & Wakefield announce a joint venture with Orvis, the purveyor of sporting and outdoor equipment--as they did last week--to enter the residential space and sell ranch and recreational properties together, just maybe its time to take some of those residential chips off the proverbial table," he said.

Two new regional vice president of growth positions were appointed by Coldwell. Jeff Maher will handle the east and Kyle King will head up the west. Additionally, the sales force is being doubled from six to 12.

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Coldwell Plans More Office Openings

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