Cuộc họp báo cáo kết quả kinh doanh Quý 3/2026 của Newmark (NMRK): Doanh thu kỷ lục, triển vọng được điều chỉnh

Điểm chính

• Newmark Group (NMRK) đã báo cáo doanh thu quý 3 đạt mức kỷ lục 973,2 triệu USD, tăng 12,7% so với cùng kỳ năm ngoái. EBITDA điều chỉnh tăng 14,6% lên 166,4 triệu USD, trong khi EPS điều chỉnh tăng 14,3% lên 0,48 USD.
• Doanh thu dịch vụ quản lý, dịch vụ nợ và doanh thu khác tăng 18,3%, ghi nhận quý kỷ lục thứ năm liên tiếp đối với các mảng kinh doanh này. Doanh thu cho thuê tăng 26,5%, đạt mức quý 3 cao nhất từ trước đến nay.
• Doanh thu thị trường vốn giảm 4,4%. Mức tăng 33,4% về sản lượng bán hàng đầu tư đã bị bù trừ bởi hoạt động phát hành khoản vay thấp hơn và quy mô hoạt động ngành GSE trong quý 3 thu hẹp khoảng 30%.
• Newmark đã điều chỉnh triển vọng năm 2026 do biến động kinh tế vĩ mô và tính không chắc chắn xung quanh việc hoàn tất các giao dịch. Công ty hiện dự báo doanh thu đạt từ 3,7 tỷ USD đến 3,8 tỷ USD và EPS điều chỉnh đạt từ 1,80 USD đến 1,90 USD.
• Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng các mảng kinh doanh thường xuyên sẽ duy trì mức tăng trưởng hai chữ số trong năm 2027, nhưng cho biết hoạt động thị trường vốn có thể tiếp tục yếu kém cho đến ít nhất là nửa đầu năm. Lợi nhuận sơ bộ năm 2027 có thể dao động trong khoảng cộng hoặc trừ 10% so với kết quả năm 2026, không bao gồm các thương vụ thâu tóm mới.
• Tổng Giám đốc (CEO) Barry Gosin sẽ từ chức vào cuối năm 2026. Newmark đang đánh giá các ứng viên nội bộ và bên ngoài, dự kiến sẽ xác định người kế nhiệm vào cuối năm.

Dữ liệu tài chính trọng yếu

Newmark đã mua lại 3,9 triệu cổ phiếu với giá 59,4 triệu USD vào cuối quý. Vào ngày 28 tháng 10 năm 2026, Hội đồng quản trị đã cấp phép lại chương trình mua lại cổ phiếu trị giá 400 triệu USD của công ty, và ban lãnh đạo cho biết họ dự kiến sẽ thực hiện thêm các đợt mua lại.

Kết quả kinh doanh và hoạt động

Doanh thu dịch vụ quản lý, dịch vụ nợ và doanh thu khác là động lực tăng trưởng chính. Mức tăng 18,3% phản ánh sự mở rộng tự thân trên khắp các mảng kinh doanh thuê ngoài của Newmark, mức tăng trưởng cửa hàng hiện hữu trong mảng định giá và tư vấn, cùng đóng góp từ 6 thương vụ thâu tóm hoàn tất kể từ quý 3/2025.

Các mảng kinh doanh thường xuyên chiếm khoảng 40% doanh thu tính từ đầu năm đến nay, tăng so với mức 24% vào năm 2017. Ban lãnh đạo vẫn tự tin rằng mảng dịch vụ quản lý và dịch vụ nợ có thể tạo ra doanh thu hàng năm hơn 2 tỷ USD vào năm 2029, ngụ ý mức tăng trưởng hai chữ số.

Doanh thu cho thuê tăng 26,5%, dẫn đầu bởi hoạt động trong mảng bất động sản công nghiệp và văn phòng tại các thị trường trọng điểm ở Bờ Tây và Texas. Nhu cầu đến từ các khách hàng thuộc lĩnh vực trí tuệ nhân tạo, trung tâm dữ liệu, công nghệ, sản xuất, dịch vụ pháp lý, hàng không vũ trụ, quốc phòng và y tế. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng hoạt động cho thuê sẽ tiếp tục tăng trưởng trong năm 2027, nhưng ở mức một chữ số sau đợt mở rộng mạnh mẽ của năm 2026.

Doanh thu thị trường vốn giảm 4,4% mặc dù sản lượng bán hàng đầu tư tăng 33,4%. Nhà ở cho người cao tuổi, nhà ở giá rẻ, bất động sản công nghiệp và bán lẻ đã đóng góp vào tăng trưởng bán hàng đầu tư, nhưng hoạt động phát hành khoản vay phải đối mặt với mức nền so sánh cao sau khi tổng quy mô nợ bùng nổ 129,1% trong quý 3/2025.

Newmark cho biết thị phần kết hợp của họ tại Fannie Mae và Freddie Mac đã tăng hơn 70 điểm cơ bản trong 12 tháng gần nhất. Tuy nhiên, ban lãnh đạo không kỳ vọng hoạt động GSE sẽ đạt mức trần hàng năm vào năm 2026 và chỉ ra rằng các điều kiện trong quý 4 vẫn còn yếu.

Doanh thu quốc tế hiện chiếm khoảng 13% tổng doanh thu của Newmark. Ban lãnh đạo có kế hoạch mở rộng trên hầu hết các dòng dịch vụ trong 18 đến 24 tháng tới, với mục tiêu cạnh tranh để giành thêm các hợp đồng cung cấp dịch vụ thuê ngoài và bên sử dụng bất động sản toàn cầu.

Dự báo của Ban lãnh đạo

Ban lãnh đạo cho biết các khoảng dự báo này vẫn sẽ đại diện cho kết quả doanh thu, EBITDA điều chỉnh và EPS điều chỉnh cả năm tốt nhất của Newmark. Triển vọng này không bao gồm các thương vụ thâu tóm trong tương lai và giả định không có thay đổi đáng kể nào về giá cổ phiếu của Newmark so với mức giá đóng cửa ngày 28 tháng 10 năm 2026.

Công ty chưa đưa ra dự báo chính thức cho năm 2027. Sơ bộ công ty nhận định các mảng kinh doanh thường xuyên sẽ duy trì mức tăng trưởng hai chữ số, trong khi mảng cho thuê sẽ đạt mức tăng trưởng một chữ số. Không bao gồm các thương vụ thâu tóm mới, ban lãnh đạo hiện nhận thấy lợi nhuận năm 2027 sẽ dao động trong khoảng cộng hoặc trừ 10% so với kết quả kỷ lục của năm 2026.

Rủi ro và các điểm cần theo dõi

• Ban lãnh đạo đã viện dẫn biến động kinh tế vĩ mô là lý do chính cho việc điều chỉnh triển vọng năm 2026, nhấn mạnh tính không chắc chắn về thời điểm và việc hoàn tất các giao dịch.
• Lãi suất cao hơn và biến động hơn đang làm chậm tiến độ hoàn tất giao dịch, thúc đẩy việc định giá lại hợp đồng và gây áp lực tăng lên tỷ lệ vốn hóa, điều này có thể làm giảm giá trị bất động sản.
• Newmark dự báo quy mô thị trường vốn toàn ngành sẽ tiếp tục chịu áp lực cho đến ít nhất là nửa đầu năm 2027.
• Trong kịch bản bất lợi của ban lãnh đạo, biến động lãi suất kéo dài và lợi suất trái phiếu Kho bạc 10 năm tiếp tục tăng có thể làm giảm hoạt động thị trường vốn từ 20% đến 30% trong năm 2027.
• Theo ban lãnh đạo, tỷ lệ văn phòng Hạng A còn trống đã ở mức một chữ số tại các thị trường lớn, điều này có thể hạn chế sự tăng trưởng cho thuê ngay cả khi nhu cầu của người thuê vẫn duy trì ở mức tích cực.
• Các dự án trung tâm dữ liệu đang đối mặt với sự phản đối từ địa phương và tính không chắc chắn về mặt chính trị, mặc dù ban lãnh đạo cho biết khách hàng chỉ trì hoãn chứ không hủy bỏ dự án và mô tả danh mục dự án tiềm năng là rất dồi dào.

Điểm nhấn phần Hỏi & Đáp với chuyên gia phân tích

Triển vọng thị trường vốn: Ban lãnh đạo cho biết các đợt tăng lãi suất gần đây đã kéo dài thời gian giao dịch và tạo cơ hội cho bên mua hoặc bên bán định giá lại hợp đồng. Kịch bản cơ sở của công ty giả định các điều kiện sẽ cải thiện, trong khi kịch bản bất lợi phản ánh biến động lãi suất kéo dài cho đến hết năm 2027.

Trung tâm dữ liệu: Newmark ghi nhận hoạt động cho thuê trung tâm dữ liệu gia tăng và nhu cầu tiếp tục duy trì đối với quỹ đất có hạ tầng điện. Ban lãnh đạo không định lượng đóng góp của mảng này trong quý 3 nhưng cho biết mảng kinh doanh trung tâm dữ liệu đang tăng tốc.

Chiến lược đầu tư: Newmark có kế hoạch tiếp tục đầu tư vào dịch vụ quản lý, mở rộng quốc tế và bán chéo bất chấp môi trường thị trường vốn có thể yếu hơn. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng biên lợi nhuận trong mảng dịch vụ quản lý sẽ cải thiện khi quy mô doanh thu tăng lên so với chi phí cố định hiện có.

Phân bổ vốn: Công ty đã dịch chuyển nhiều vốn hơn sang các thương vụ thâu tóm, đặc biệt là các mảng kinh doanh dịch vụ quản lý và dịch vụ nợ tạo ra doanh thu thường xuyên, sau khi đã xây dựng phần lớn nền tảng thị trường vốn tại Mỹ. Việc phát hành khoản vay cho nhân viên đã giảm 36,9% trong 9 tháng đầu năm 2026.

Dòng tiền tự do: Không bao gồm khoản lợi ích khoảng 42 triệu USD từ thỏa thuận hòa giải trong cùng kỳ năm trước, dòng tiền tự do điều chỉnh trong quý 3 đã giảm khoảng 10% do yếu tố thời điểm. Ban lãnh đạo nhấn mạnh hiệu suất hoạt động tốt hơn trong 12 tháng gần nhất.

Toàn văn Biên bản Cuộc họp Báo cáo Kết quả Kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Newmark 3Q 2026 Public Financial Results Call. Today's conference is being recorded.

At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Jason McGruder, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jason McGruder

Operator, good morning. Newmark issued its third quarter 2026 financial results press release earlier today. Unless otherwise stated, the results provided on today's call compare only the 3 months ended September 30, 2026, with the earlier period. Except as otherwise stated, we will only refer to results on a non-GAAP basis, including terms of Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings and adjusted free cash flow.

Unless otherwise stated, any figures discussed today with respect to cash flow from operations refer to net cash provided by operating activities, excluding the impact of GSE/FHA loan originations and sales. We may also use the term cash generated by the business, which is the same operating cash flow measure before the impact of cash used for employee loans.

Please refer to today's press release, the supplemental tables and the quarterly results presentation on our website for complete and updated definitions of any non-GAAP terms, reconciliations of these items to the corresponding GAAP results and when, how and why management uses them. For additional information on our cash flow measures as well as relevant industry or economic statistics.

The outlook discussed today excludes the potential impact of any future acquisitions and assumes no meaningful changes in Newmark's stock price compared with yesterday's close. Our expectations are subject to change based on various macroeconomic, social, political and other factors. None of our targets or goals beyond 2026 should be considered formal guidance.

Also remind you that information on this call contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements concerning our economic outlook and business. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause our actual results to differ from expectations. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

For a complete discussion of the risks and other factors that may impact these forward-looking statements, see our SEC filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors and disclosures required regarding forward-looking information in our most recent SEC filings, which are incorporated by reference.

I'm now happy to turn the call over to our host and Chief Executive Officer, Barry Gosin.

Barry Gosin

Good morning. In advance, I'll apologize, I'm a little bit under the weather, but I'm happy to be here. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Newmark's Chief Financial Officer, Mike Rispoli; and our Chief Operating Officer, Luis Alvarado.

Newmark once again generated strong top and bottom line improvement, including record third quarter revenues. Our growth was led by management and servicing, which increased 18%, leading to the company's fifth consecutive record quarter for these resilient businesses. We increased leasing by 26%, resulting in its all-time best third quarter. This was led by higher demand across artificial intelligence, data centers and other technology sectors as well as manufacturing, legal services, aerospace, defense and health care.

Our transaction pipelines remain active and robust. We continue to expect double-digit growth in revenues, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share and anticipating achieving the best annual results for each of these metrics. However, the volatility in the macroeconomic environment creates challenges with regard to the timing and certainty of deal closings. And as a result, we are revising our 2026 outlook.

We remain confident that our investments in resilient service lines, ongoing international expansion, the strength of the company's brand and the continuing collaboration between our industry-leading professionals will together drive Newmark's long-term growth and market share gains.

I want to take a moment to talk about our accomplishments over the past 15 years. Newmark had a simple plan, elevate our brand by recruiting the industry's best talent, provide them with a differentiated platform, build credibility and earn our way into the rooms where decisions are made.

Starting in 2014, we chose to lead with capital markets because when you are advising a client on capitalizing the most important asset and portfolios, you are helping key decision-makers fully realize their business plans, and our strategy has worked. Newmark took its share of U.S. commercial and multifamily originations from under 2% then to around 10% now. We also moved up from #10 in U.S. investment sales in 2014 to #2 for the first 9 months of 2026.

Our success stems from our relentless focus on talent and from our professionals being innovative and entrepreneurial in everything they do. You have seen the same focus and market share gains across all of our businesses, including our recent strong growth in leasing and valuation and advisory. Over the last few years, we have used the sturdy foundation laid by these service lines to build out a growing suite of recurring revenue businesses.

As a result, we have successfully driven growth in the following areas: property, project and facility management, loan servicing and asset management, consulting, technology, advisory and lease administration and most recently, our fast-growing managed services solution for real estate lenders and investors. That is why recurring businesses increased from 24% of our total revenue in 2017 to around 40% year-to-date. We remain confident that management and servicing will produce more than $2 billion of annual revenue in 2029, which implies double-digit growth.

Our next chapter involves additional international growth. Over the coming 18 to 24 months, we anticipate further expansion of our global footprint across nearly all service lines. Today, we derive approximately 13% of our top line from outside the U.S., while our large full-service peers generate more than double or triple that percentage internationally. We view that gap as an opportunity. As we expand our geographic footprint, we also make Newmark a more credible alternative to win outsourcing assignments from large global occupiers. This has led to our occupier solutions teams competing in more pitches and being awarded more mandates.

Over time, our goal is for Newmark to be invited into every room with key decision-makers across nearly all of our service lines globally. Not only in New York and San Francisco, but in Berlin and London and Milan and Paris and Seoul and Sydney and Toronto and dozens of other major markets around the world. Based on our track record, I would not have bet against us.

Before I turn the call over to Mike, I want to briefly address Newmark's leadership. As previously announced, after 47 years, I am stepping down as CEO at the end of this year. I love this company. I will continue to be here to help through the transition. Both internal and external candidates are being evaluated, and we currently still expect to identify a new -- our new CEO by the end of the year. I'm confident in Newmark's senior leadership who collectively have decades of experience.

And with that, I'm happy to turn the call over to Mike.

Michael Rispoli

Thank you, Barry, and good morning. Total revenues were up 12.7% to an all-time third quarter best of $973.2 million compared with $863.5 million. We increased management services, servicing and other by 18.3%. This was led by robust organic growth from Newmark's expanding suite of outsourcing businesses as well as strong same-store improvement for valuation and advisory. Management services fees also reflect 6 acquisitions completed since the third quarter of last year.

Leasing was up 26.5%. This reflected higher fees from industrial and office across several key West Coast markets and Texas. Capital markets revenues declined by 4.4% as Newmark's 33.4% rise in investment sales volumes was offset by lower origination activity. Our investment sales growth was led by senior housing and affordable housing as well as higher industrial and retail volumes.

Our origination business faced a difficult comparison due to the 129.1% rise in our total debt volumes in the third quarter of last year. In addition, GSE industry activity declined by approximately 30% in the third quarter. Over the trailing 12 months, Newmark gained over 70 basis points of combined Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac market share year-on-year.

Moving on to expenses. Total expenses were up 13.5%. Without pass-through items, total expenses would have increased 10.8%, with a large majority tied to the increase in commission-based revenues and our global growth initiatives. Regarding taxes, the company's tax rate for adjusted earnings was 12.9% compared with 12.1% last year.

Turning to earnings. We increased adjusted EPS by 14.3% to $0.48 compared with $0.42. Adjusted EBITDA was $166.4 million, up 14.6% versus $145.2 million. With respect to share count, our fully diluted weighted average share count was 252.7 million, up 0.4% year-on-year. We repurchased 3.9 million shares for $59.4 million towards the end of the quarter. On October 28, 2026, Newmark's Board reauthorized the company's $400 million buyback program. Given our strong financial position and recent share price, we anticipate further share repurchases.

Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $240 million of cash and cash equivalents, $877.5 million of total corporate debt and 1x net leverage. On a trailing 12-month basis, the company increased adjusted free cash flow by 16% to $336.8 million. A key reason we have improved our cash flow metrics has been our increased focus on M&A. In the first 9 months of this year, our employee loan issuance dropped 36.9% compared with a year earlier. We expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future.

Turning to guidance. We have revised our outlook due to the challenging macroeconomic environment and its anticipated impact on transaction volumes. Our full year guidance for 2026 compared with a year earlier is now as follows: we expect total revenues between $3.7 billion and $3.8 billion, an increase of 12% to 15%. We anticipate Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $629 million to $667 million, an increase of 12% to 19%.

We continue to expect our adjusted earnings tax rate to be between 13% and 15% versus 11.4%. And we anticipate adjusted EPS between $1.80 and $1.90, up 11% to 17%. These results would be Newmark's best ever full year revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS performance.

While it is too early to discuss guidance for 2027, we wanted to provide some additional color on how we view the market moving forward. We expect the fundamentals of our recurring businesses to remain strong and continue to expect double-digit growth. We also expect leasing volumes to improve, albeit with single-digit gains as compared to this year's strong double-digit improvement.

We expect industry capital markets volumes to be down through at least the first half of next year, given the recent rise in the level and volatility of rates. Given that market view, there could be a wide range of outcomes in terms of Newmark's 2027 results. Excluding any new acquisitions, we currently believe our 2027 earnings will be plus or minus 10% as compared with our record 2026 results.

With that, I would now like to open the call for any questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And the first question will come from Alexander Goldfarb with Piper Sandler.

Phần hỏi đáp

Alexander Goldfarb

Barry, obviously, wishing you the best in -- I don't want to say retirement because I know you're going to stay busy and you love the business.

But your comment about the firm looking outside and inside, obviously, we've gotten to know a number of the inside folks, but you guys have a particular culture, very competitive, but very collegiate. How does the Board think about trying to bring in an outsider who would be new to Newmark versus promoting from within in terms of keeping that robust culture and the tightness intact?

Barry Gosin

We're basically evaluating all those things at the moment. And in the next certainly by 60 days, choice will be made.

Alexander Goldfarb

Okay. The next question is on the data center front, it continues to be a hot topic. As you guys speak with your clients, and we've seen more pushback politically across the country, how is this tangibly manifesting into deal flow? Are you seeing projects being pulled? Or is this more about future deals that aren't even near coming to fruition being pulled back? I'm just trying to understand the practical implication on the field versus what all the headlines are.

Barry Gosin

I mean the fact that the election is next week has some impact on what's happening. The NIMBYism that is occurring around the country, I believe, will be temporary. Whether it's community development agreements, data centers deploying additional power to the grid in local communities, dealing with creating more jobs. I mean, things are just being pushed.

Our pipeline is incredibly robust. I mean the pipeline is there. We -- obviously, we -- the macro environment is a little confusing. So we're just being conservative about what the certainty is. But nothing has been -- nobody has walked from the table. They've just moved the table.

Alexander Goldfarb

Okay. And then finally, Mike, on the free cash flow, I may have -- you talked about broker loans, I think, or something of that sort, but can you just walk back through ex settlement, why the adjusted free cash flow declined in the third quarter year-over-year?

Michael Rispoli

Yes. In the third quarter alone, the -- if you remember last year, we had the settlement, which is about $42 million that was a positive impact last year. We're down about 10% if you take that out, and that's really just timing. There's nothing specific going on, on a trailing 12-month basis. We're up almost 36% free cash flow, and we always look at that metric on an annual basis. So there'll be quarters where it might be down a little or it might be up a little. But when you look at it on a trailing 12 basis, it's performing better than our earnings performance.

Operator

And our next question will come from Jade Rahmani with KBW.

Jade Rahmani

Just wanted to ask about the 2027 comments. I mean, what scenarios would push earnings to be down 10% because you've got 40% of the business management services and about 30% leasing. So that's the preponderance of it. And capital markets could be down, you said in the first half, but maybe it stabilizes and then grows in the second half. So I guess what's the -- are we in a much worse scenario that gets earnings to be down by that magnitude?

Michael Rispoli

Sure, Jade. It's all about the capital markets business because as you rightfully noted, we have a management business, the servicing business that will continue to grow double digits. The leasing business, we think will be -- will grow, it will just grow at a little bit of a slower pace than this year. And it's really all about capital markets.

So a downside scenario would be a sustained interest rate volatile environment, continued increase in the 10-year treasuries and volatility in that rate that sustains through the balance of next year, that could drive capital markets down probably in the 20% to 30% range. That's a downside scenario.

An upside scenario is there's some pain in the first half of the year and things get better in the second half. As you know, fourth quarter is usually the largest capital markets quarter. So if things improve in the second half of the year, we could perform towards the higher end of our range.

Jade Rahmani

Wow, down 20% to 30%, that seems quite stark when you look at office has gone through a multiyear cycle and fundamentals are improving. Industrial is seeing a secondary use case with data center storage of all the components, advanced manufacturing, retail doing quite well, hospitality as well. So multifamily seems to be the main challenge, about 35% of the market. So I think your capital markets comments seem a bit severe.

Michael Rispoli

Again, that's -- we gave a pretty wide range because I think there's a pretty wide range of outcomes that could happen in the market. And the base case is that things get better, and we have a pretty good year next year.

Jade Rahmani

Good luck to you, Barry. Hope to still be in touch, too.

Operator

And the next question will come from Julien Blouin with Goldman Sachs.

Julien Blouin

Yes, I wanted to go back to the capital markets comment. I guess what are you seeing on the ground so far in October that sort of maybe informs this view of sort of a wide range of potential outcomes certainly to the downside. Are you seeing real signs of pause in activity levels? Because I do feel like we've heard sort of differing takes across your peer set in terms of how much of an impact we should expect?

Lou Alvarado

Yes, Julien, this is Lou. Look, we definitely saw deals taking longer to close. I think when -- there are attack -- rates moved up another 50 basis points and the 10-year went up, it gives people either an opportunity to retrade deals or to wonder whether they should go to the market. We do believe that and we'll continue to advise our clients that I think we're living in the rate level that it's going to be, and therefore, this is a good -- is as good a time as anything if you're going to go to the market to go to the market.

But definitely, the spike in rates has also had a spike on cap rates, right, which then also on top of everything, the values go down. So that's primarily where we're looking at. We're looking at probably a little slower first and second quarter depending on how the elections go and how the rates go, and then also that continued pressure on cap rates because everybody is looking now on even the lenders on, hey, what's the exit cap rate going to be if I make this loan, right? So those are really what's driving a lot of the decision making.

Julien Blouin

That makes sense. And as we enter sort of a more choppy period potentially for capital markets, does that change at all how you're thinking about reinvesting into the business? And if not, how should we think about the potential for decremental margins sort of on the way down if we do sort of hit more severe scenarios in capital markets?

Lou Alvarado

Yes. I mean, look, I don't think it changes our -- how we invest in the business. We've said that we're going to continue to invest in growing our managed services, which work hand-in-hand, frankly, with capital markets and leasing, right? It's primarily about driving that cross-selling of the services that we provide and driving our platform. As we drive that business more, that margin improved significantly because there's -- we've spent a fair amount of money.

So there's some fixed costs related to that business that as we continue to grow the revenue, we will further enhance the margin. Capital markets is not going away. It will still be a driver, and there will still be a way of how we get in front of the folks. And leasing will continue to help drive the cross-selling of our managed service platform, whether it be facilities, lease admin, workplace and so forth.

So I'm not really as concerned about that overall for the plan, and I'm not really worried that we're going to change our investment. We're going to continue to invest. We're going to continue to grow the platform. We're going to continue to grow globally. And I think we're in a really good path. And sometimes these things create tremendous opportunities for us to invest and grow the business.

Julien Blouin

All right. Great. Feel better, Barry.

Barry Gosin

Thank you.

Operator

And we'll take a question from Brendan Lynch with Barclays.

Annabelle Ayer

This is Annabelle on for Brendan. Thank you for your commentary on leasing expectations for 2027. How do you think about the contribution from different subsectors as availability in office and industrial start to tighten, but you start winning more data center leasing deals?

Lou Alvarado

Yes. I mean I think we have been doing more data center leasing deals. I still think there's a lot of running room still for powered land and so forth. As far as leasing, we've been driving our leasing has continued to grow, and that's also helped grow our managed services, right, the support that goes with it. The challenge for leasing, frankly, is going to be that the demand is still at the Class A level and the vacancy rates at the Class A level are in the single digits across all the major markets.

So it's really more of a, where is the product that we can put people in. There's certainly a lot more investment going in and taking B buildings to A level so that they can become an attractive option for tenants. But that's really where we see the potential slowdown, not slowdown, but just bump in the leasing and why we think it won't grow as fast as it has in the past.

Annabelle Ayer

Okay. Great. And then can you just quantify how much data centers contributed to the leasing volume in the third quarter, given that they can be a bit lumpy?

Michael Rispoli

Yes, we had some nice data center leases in the quarter. That part of the business for us seems to be ramping up, but we haven't put any specific numbers around it at this point.

Operator

And the next question will come from Patrick O'Shaughnessy with Raymond James.

Patrick O'Shaughnessy

How would you compare kind of the current market impact from the move higher in interest rates versus what the industry saw in 2022?

Lou Alvarado

Yes. I mean I think in 2022, everybody was saying stay alive until '25, I think today, we're looking at a market where this is what it's going to be, here it move 50 basis points here and there, but there's no -- unless you have a really well-leased building that's got long-term and you want to hold, I think everybody is going to have to play in this arena. It's just getting the price discovery between where the sellers and the buyers are to kind of meet, right? So there's -- it's very different than it was in '23.

Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Got it. That's helpful. And then can you remind us why the capital allocation philosophy has kind of shifted away from hiring and lift-outs and towards M&A?

Michael Rispoli

Sure. We probably started talking about this 18 to 24 months ago. The main reason is we spent a lot of time building out our U.S. platform, in particular, and filling a lot of the major gaps that we had on the capital market side. When we got to the end of that, and we're never completely done, but when we got towards the end of that, and we had enough talent to execute business in all major asset classes, we shifted more towards M&A and M&A mainly has been in the recurring revenue businesses.

As we mentioned, we've acquired 6 companies in the past almost year, and all of them, I believe, have been in the management and servicing business. So that shift started. It doesn't mean we're not hiring talent. It just means that the majority of our capital will go towards M&A and the recurring businesses.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Mitch Germain with Citizens Bank.

Mitch Germain

I'm curious, I think, Mike, you might have mentioned that GSE has seen a reduction there. Do you expect a bit of a pickup in 4Q? I know that there are certain levels that they have each year. So I'm curious how you think that plays out.

Michael Rispoli

Yes, we're not seeing that. It's interesting. If you look at our volumes in multifamily debt, in particular, our volumes overall were up. It's just that the activity shifted from GSE to non-GSE debt. So I don't really see the GSEs getting to their caps this year. And the market seems to be -- continue to be a little bit down in the fourth quarter. We'll see what happens next year. I know they have a mandate to push more volumes through the GSEs. But hopefully, that will pick up as we move into '27.

Mitch Germain

Great. And obviously, you've got this dynamic playing out in -- within the investment sales market, given what's happened in the interest rate environment. But I'm curious, like, when you look at some of the M&A deals that you guys are in the midst of negotiating, does this sort of backdrop create an opportunity? Or does it create a repricing and maybe delay deals there as well?

Barry Gosin

I mean, we are incredibly ensconced in the large institutional size portfolios, M&A and deals. And that's probably one of the -- some of those deals just take longer. And in a volatile time, they're not -- they're going. They continue to go forward. And that side of the business is a little lumpy, but it's hard exactly to predict when they close. And -- but nothing has left the field.

Operator

Thank you. And that does conclude the question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the conference back over to Barry Gosin, CEO.

Barry Gosin

So thank you for joining us, and I really look forward to seeing all of you next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. That does conclude today's conference. We do thank you for your participation, and have an excellent day.