Is Working in Brokerage Still Worth It In 2026? [My Honest Answer]

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Is Working in Brokerage Still Worth It In 2026? [My Honest Answer]

Break Into CRE 16.04.2026 829 просмотров 24 лайков

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Is Working in Brokerage Still Worth It In 2026? [My Honest Answer] // Brokerage is one of the most popular entry points into commercial real estate, and just a few years ago, it was very clear why. Capital was extremely cheap, transaction volume was shattering records, and top-producing brokers were making a lot of money. But over the last few years, the rise in interest rates and huge drops in investment sales activity we’ve seen have made brokerage a much less desirable option. So in this video, we’ll take a deep dive into whether going into brokerage is still worthwhile today in 2026, and if so, where you should be looking in this part of the business. 💻 TRAINING & COURSES 💻 Enroll in the FREE Break Into CRE Real Estate Financial Modeling Crash Course here: https://www.breakintocre.com/free-crash-course Enroll in any Break Into CRE course here: https://breakintocre.com/courses/ Get access to all Break Into CRE courses, all models, and additional one-on-one support with a Break Into CRE Academy membership: https://breakintocre.com/the-academy **💰 MY FAVORITE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT PLATFORMS 💰 EquityMultiple: https://equitymultiple.4drrzr.net/c/2975738/751081/10943 RealtyMogul: https://realtymogul.pxf.io/c/2975738/1008102/13202 🕒 Timestamps 🕒 0:00 Introduction 0:37 The Data 2:03 Cuts 3:29 The Shift 5:25 Debt/Equity #commercialrealestate #realestatecareers *Nothing in this video should be construed as tax, legal, accounting, valuation, or financial advice or recommendation. All information in this video is intended solely for educational purposes, and you are advised to consult with your own personal professional advisors regarding your personal investment decisions. **AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase and/or create an account. Research and articles referenced in this video:https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1578732/000119312522046001/d638559dex991.htm https://www.cbre.com/insights/figures/q4-2025-us-capital-markets-figures https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/commercial-real-estate/cbre-to-target-transaction-business-with-150m-in-new-cost-cuts-121370 https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/commercial-real-estate/avison-young-plans-19m-budget-cuts-including-layoffs-116479 https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/employer/walker-dunlop-lays-off-8-of-employees-citing-hazy-financial-outlook-118589 https://www.costar.com/article/914126010/eastdil-to-cut-7-of-its-global-workforce https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/interest-rate https://crittendenreport.com/mba-predicts-positive-news-for-cre-in-2026/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-09/property-debt-s-maturity-wall-eases-as-875-billion-comes-due?embedded-checkout=true https://www.mba.org/news-and-research/newsroom/news/2026/02/09/commercial-multifamily-borrowing-up-30-percent-in-the-fourth-quarter-of-2025 https://www.mba.org/news-and-research/newsroom/news/2025/10/19/mba-forecast--total-single-family-mortgage-originations-to-increase-8-percent-to--2.2-trillion-in-2026 https://www.mba.org/news-and-research/research-and-economics/commercial-multifamily-research https://ir.marcusmillichap.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/432/marcus-millichap-inc-reports-preliminary-results-for https://www.cbre.com/insights/viewpoints/steady-investment-activity-shows-commercial-real-estate-resilience https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/15/moodys-commercial-real-estate-dealmaking-november.html https://www.costar.com/article/1341831864/heres-how-the-largest-commercial-property-brokerages-engage-in-quiet-cutting https://www.sharplaunch.com/blog/top-commercial-real-estate-brokerages https://ir.jll.com/financials/quarterly-results/default.aspx https://www.cbre.com/services https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/united-states/services/capital-markets https://www.jll.com/en-us/services/property-management https://ir.marcusmillichap.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/432/marcus-millichap-inc-reports-preliminary-results-for https://ir.marcusmillichap.com/financial-information/financial-results https://www.chathamfinancial.com/technology/us-forward-curves https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/18/fed-interest-rate-decision-march-2026.html https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/fed-may-not-cut-rates-211243390.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-market-is-starting-to-think-the-federal-reserves-next-move-is-raising-interest-rates-154704986.html https://www.multihousingnews.com/a-closer-look-at-the-multifamily-maturity-wall-and-refinancing-crisis/ https://urbanland.uli.org/capital-markets-and-finance/office-leads-distress-but-weakness-extends-beyond-one-sector https://www.reedsmith.com/our-insights/blogs/real-estate-legal-update/102mijo/the-debt-maturity-wall-and-2026-wave-challenges-and-opportunities/

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Introduction

Brokerage is one of the most popular entry points in a commercial real estate and just a few years ago it was really clear why. Capital was extremely cheap, transaction volume was shattering records, and top producing brokers were making a lot of money. But over the last few years, the rises in interest rates and huge drops in investment sales activity we've seen have made brokerage a much less desirable option. And in this video, we'll take a deep dive into whether going into brokerage still makes sense in 2026 and if so, where you looking in this part of the business.

The Data

So, let's start with the data and one of the most objective ways to look at what's happening in commercial real estate brokerage today is to look at the financials of publicly traded brokerage firms. However, since a lot of these companies like CBRE, JLL, and Cushman & Wakefield generate a significant amount of revenue from other parts of their business like property management, facilities management, and research to zoom in on actual investment sales activity, Marcus & Millichap is one of the best data points out there. This company is focused almost exclusively on generating transaction-based commissions, which gives us a much clearer picture of what's actually going on today. And according to Marcus & Millichap's Q4 and full year 2025 earnings release, the company generated $755 million of revenue in 2025, which was up 8. 5% from 2024 figures. Now, while this sounds like a positive trajectory, when you take into account that the company generated $1. 3 billion of revenue in both 2021 and 2022, this is still significantly below where they were just a few years ago with adjusted EBITDA of $25 million in 2025 coming in at less than 12% of 2021 numbers. And this is exactly what you'd expect during a time period when annual transaction volume slowed to between just 30 and 50% of the volume we saw at the peak of the cycle. And because of this, brokerage firms have needed to contract and in many cases reduce their headcounts. At the

Cuts

end of 2022, CBRE announced $400 million of cuts with approximately 300 million of these coming from employee layoffs. And the company followed that up with another $150 million of proposed cuts in 2023 aimed primarily at their transaction-focused lines of business. And while CBRE's cuts made the biggest headlines during this time, they weren't the only brokerage firm reducing headcount. With Avison Young announcing $19 million of proposed cuts at the end of 2022, Eastdil Secured cutting 7% of its workforce in February of 2023, and Walker & Dunlop laying off 8% of its employee base just 2 months later. And what's been really tough for new college graduates trying to enter this business over the last few years is that for the most part, these roles that were eliminated haven't opened back up yet. And the projections about interest rates we're seeing today are making a lot of these companies still hesitant to make new hires. In their March 2026 meeting, the Federal Reserve left the Fed funds rate unchanged, which means that floating rate debt on commercial real estate loans will stay just as expensive as it is today for the foreseeable future. And according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the 10-year US Treasury yield is forecasted to stay at around 4. 2% throughout the rest of 2026, meaning that the cost of fixed rate debt on commercial real estate loans also isn't likely to see any material drops anytime soon. Now, even though interest

The Shift

rates themselves might not change much in the short term, the bright spot for commercial real estate today is that there's a major difference between the market we're seeing right now and the market we saw back in 2022 that could materially impact transaction activity going forward. Unlike the environment we were in 4 years ago when the vast majority of borrowers were able to pay off their loans on time and in full, many property owners today are struggling to make that happen. And because of this, many commercial real estate loans have been extended, in some cases multiple times over the last few years with $875 billion of this debt now scheduled to mature in 2026. And with lenders reaching their limits as far as how long they're willing to work with borrowers and interest rates that don't look like they're going anywhere over the next several months, this has the potential to force existing property owners today to sell or refinance even if they're not ready. And this is already started to play out on a pretty wide scale with the Mortgage Bankers Association reporting that loan originations were up 30% year-over-year in Q4 of 2025. And they also forecasted that origination volume would jump in 2026 by another 24%. So, while jobs specifically in investment sales still might be pretty hard to come by throughout the rest of this year, if you're interested in brokerage, the debt side of the business could be a great place to be right now. And to go back to Marcus & Millichap's financials, financing fee revenue for this company grew by 23% from 2024 to 2025, while investment sales commissions only grew by 7% during this same time period. And if this trend continues and more borrowers start to refinance while investment sales activity continues to recover, this will very likely lead to additional hiring in this part of the business and also significantly higher bonuses for analysts and associates on high producing teams. And while in general

Debt/Equity

terms, debt brokers do tend to make slightly less money per transaction than investment sales brokers, they also tend to get paid more often over time since a property might only trade hands through a sale every 7 to 10 years, but that same property might be refinanced multiple times during that period. Many debt side analyst roles will also get you involved with equity raised transactions, which can be a huge learning opportunity especially for people who want to do their own deals in the future. So, this can also be an added benefit of going the debt route. Working on the debt side of the business will also expose you to a lot of deal flow, in many cases across multiple different property types and geographic markets, which can give you really valuable insights into where you might want to focus your career even if you don't want to stay in brokerage over the long term. What all this information is telling me right now is that for someone who wants to maximize their chances of landing a job in this industry as quickly as possible today, the debt side of brokerage could be a great place to get exposure to transaction volume, make great money, and build relationships with capital providers that could eventually come in handy regardless of where you go in the future. Now, with all of that said, I would also keep in mind that real estate is extremely cyclical and careers are very long. So, I wouldn't necessarily base your entire job search focus on just what's easiest or hardest to get into right now. Both debt brokers and investment sales brokers can make a lot of money with a lot of autonomy in their day-to-day work schedule. So, if you have your heart set on either of these paths, the best time to get started is still as soon as possible. And if you are looking to break into this industry today and land a job at a top commercial real estate brokerage, lending, or investment firm, and you want to make sure you have the technical skills you'll need to land interviews and pass an Excel modeling exam that might be given to you during the process, make sure to check out our all-in-one membership training platform, Breaking into CRE Academy. A membership to the Academy will give you instant access to over 120 hours of video training on real estate financial modeling and analysis. You'll get access to hundreds of practice Excel interview exam questions, sample acquisition case studies, and you'll also get access to the Breaking into CRE Analyst Certification Exam, which covers topics like real estate acquisition and development modeling, commercial real estate lease modeling, equity waterfall modeling, and many other real estate financial analysis concepts that will help you prove to employers that you have what it takes to tackle the responsibilities of an analyst or associate at a top real estate firm. And if you like this video and want to see more content on the channel on careers in commercial real estate brokerage, make sure to hit the like button and let me know. And let me know in the comments if there were any other parts of this business that you'd like to see a similar video on in the future. As always, thanks so much for watching, guys. Hope you found this helpful. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already to see more videos like this every single week, and I'll see you in the next

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