Consolidations Change the Real Estate Landscape

NEW YORK CITY—The universe of commercial real estate services firms has gotten both larger and smaller since GlobeSt.com launched in 2000. Larger in the sense that these firms now operate in markets they hadn’t yet entered 15 years ago, and smaller in the sense that there are fewer such firms today. Industry consolidation has made the difference.

The company known today as CBRE Group Inc., which has its roots in firms established as long ago as 1773, is the result of a spinoff and three mergers, two of which have occurred in the past 15 years (Insignia Financial Group in 2003 and Trammell Crow Co. in 2006). In all, CBRE has made more than 70 acquisitions of various sizes over the past 10 years, ranging from regional affiliates to ING Groep NV‘s real estate investment management business in Europe and Asia. Last week, it closed on its acquisition of Johnson Controls Inc.’s Global Workplace Solutions business.