Marcus & Millichap’s third quarter split along deal size. Commissions on commercial properties of $10 million and up rose 18%, while its core business of smaller private-client sales grew less than 4% after a jump in Treasury yields widened the gap between buyers’ and sellers’ prices. The Calabasas, Calif.-based brokerage reported total revenue up 7.5% to $208.4 million in its third-quarter 2026 results, released Nov. 6.
Net income was $1.0 million, or 3 cents a diluted share, up from $0.2 million, or a penny, a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $8.2 million from $6.9 million.
Bigger deals did the work
Brokerage commissions, most of the firm’s revenue, rose 7.4% to $174.1 million. The breakdown:
- Private client market (properties under $10 million): $106.0 million, up 3.6% from $102.3 million.
- Middle market ($10 million to under $20 million): $30.5 million, up from $26.1 million.
- Larger transaction market ($20 million and up): $31.5 million, up from $26.3 million.
Together, the middle and larger segments brought in $62.0 million, 18.1% more than a year earlier. Financing fees rose 2.6% to $27.0 million, and other revenue, from leasing, consulting and advisory work, rose to $7.3 million from $5.4 million.
The number of deals barely changed, but their size went up. Marcus & Millichap closed 1,584 brokerage transactions, against 1,586 a year earlier, for $9.4 billion in sales volume, up from $8.4 billion. Its financing arm completed 423 transactions, up from 406, totaling $2.9 billion, the same dollar volume as a year earlier. Including leasing and advisory work, the firm reported 2,316 transactions and about $13.8 billion of volume for the quarter.
Rates slowed the smaller-deal market
Chief Executive Hessam Nadji tied the slower private-client business to rates. “Private client activity grew at a more moderate pace as bid-ask spreads widened following the 80 bps increase in the 10-year Treasury yield during the quarter,” he said in the release. “At the same time, our increased penetration of the middle market and larger transactions continued to drive stronger revenue growth.”
That shift matters for the company. Private-client deals, sales under $10 million, have long been Marcus & Millichap’s base. The firm says that market is highly fragmented, and it estimates it had about 18% of it in 2025 by transaction count among the 10 largest brokerages, which it sees as room to consolidate.
The quarter follows a stronger second quarter, when the firm swung to a profit as sales and financing rebounded. Among larger firms, Cushman & Wakefield reported capital markets revenue up 18% for the third quarter.
Year to date and the balance sheet
For the first nine months, revenue rose 14.0% to $582.8 million. Financing fees grew 19.0% to $84.1 million. The firm earned $1.8 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with a $15.2 million loss a year earlier, and adjusted EBITDA was $23.3 million against a loss of $0.4 million. Nine-month sales volume totaled $40.0 billion, including $26.8 billion in brokerage, up from $23.0 billion.
Marcus & Millichap had 1,670 investment sales and financing professionals at the end of September, one more than a year earlier. It held about $372.8 million of cash, restricted cash and marketable debt securities down from about $398.2 million at the end of 2025. In the first nine months it bought back 912,957 shares at an average of $26.22, about $23.9 million in total, and had about $90.1 million left under its repurchase authorization as of Nov. 3. It paid a semiannual dividend of 25 cents a share on Oct. 6.
“Previously postponed transactions run out of time”
The company was cautious about the next few months. It expects price discovery and wide bid-ask spreads to persist through the rest of 2026. “The near-term outlook remains somewhat tempered by the interest rate volatility of the past several months,” Nadji said.
He expects deals that have been put off to come back. “We are seeing a growing number of assets that need to trade as loans mature and previously postponed transactions run out of time going into 2027,” he said, adding that three years of price adjustments, “together with lenders’ increased ability to dispose of underperforming assets, are expected to result in increased sales activity.” He also said the firm intends to use its balance sheet “to pursue strategic acquisitions in 2027 and beyond.”
On our reading, the results show the smaller end of commercial real estate reacting to rates faster than the larger-deal end. Whether Nadji’s expected wave of loan-maturity sales arrives in 2027 will decide whether that segment catches up. More deal and brokerage coverage is on our commercial real estate page.
