Investor concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence resurfaced this week as Newmark CEO Barry Gosin, joining a growing list of rival real estate services executives, pushed back against fears that the technology could undermine the national brokerage business. Instead, he described AI as an “accelerant” that will boost productivity and profits.
As Newmark on Wednesday posted record revenue for both the fourth quarter and full year — driven by double‑digit growth across leasing, investment sales and other business lines — questions about AI dominated its earnings call. One analyst described the issue as “the big elephant” in the room, asking whether AI could disrupt brokerage work or reduce tenants’ demand for space.
“AI‑led demand has helped fuel our strong results in areas including office leasing, particularly in New York and San Francisco, as well as data centers, capital markets and our valuation business.”
“For us, I believe [AI] is really a gift,” Gosin said on the call. AI, he said, is “an enabler for the great talent that we have to do more and to expand more, to give them the tools and the data to improve their business. … We think [AI] is an accelerant for us. … We continue to empower our extraordinary talent with world‑class research, data analytics and technology, accelerated by AI, which we expect to continue to produce efficiency and margin enhancement to our business.”
Gosin said Newmark and its major competitors each possess “incredible amounts of proprietary data” that they can further leverage with AI. “We expect AI to provide an additional tailwind for our future results,” he said.
Threat to brokerage model?
His comments echo recent remarks from other executives, including those at CBRE, JLL and Cushman & Wakefield — the world’s three largest property services firms — who have also sought to calm investor fears that AI could hurt brokerage models. Those worries recently triggered sharp sell‑offs in commercial real estate stocks before some rebound.
The firms argue that AI is helping property services companies become more efficient by automating tasks such as drafting and extracting leases — tools that support, rather than replace, the human relationships and judgment needed to source and close deals. Similar AI‑related concerns have rippled across other industries, fueling broader stock market volatility in technology and financial services.
Beyond the direct impact on brokerage operations, analysts on Newmark’s call also asked whether AI could lead to job cuts that reduce office demand or if AI‑driven robotics could dent demand for industrial and retail space.
“It is very early to have the full story,” Gosin said. “The last two months, AI has really revolutionized itself, but we are still seeing increased activity and increased return to the office.
“You could possibly look at it that people who are working from home are more at risk than people that come into the office, but nobody knows that at this moment,” he added.
Newmark has not seen any impact on leasing activity or heard tenants discussing plans to shrink their office footprints, Gosin said.
Revenue, profit growth
Regardless of the AI jitters, Newmark reported a second straight year of double‑digit revenue and profit growth in 2025. Revenue across its management and servicing, leasing and capital markets businesses each topped $1 billion for the year.
“We are seeing investors want to unleash the opportunity and the capital to go play in the new market at new levels with new opportunities.”
Leasing fees were driven by demand from tenants in AI, financial technology, healthcare and consumer packaged goods, which “drove strong activity across retail, industrial and office” properties, the company said.
“AI‑led demand has helped fuel our strong results in areas including office leasing, particularly in New York and San Francisco, as well as data centers, capital markets and our valuation business,” Gosin said.
Newmark has also landed recent wins such as becoming the exclusive leasing agent for Vornado Realty Trust’s New York retail portfolio in the Penn District surrounding Penn Station.
Capital markets revenue jumped 19.2% in the fourth quarter — marking the ninth straight quarter of double‑digit growth — boosted by high‑profile transactions such as Tritax Big Box REIT’s acquisition of a U.K. industrial portfolio from Blackstone.
“We expect to grow our market share globally across nearly all our business lines over the next several years,” Gosin said, noting gains in investment sales and debt origination, where activity is expected to pick up further. Newmark has also been expanding internationally, including in Europe, the Middle East and Singapore.
“There is $2 trillion of debt coming due over the next three years — about $600 billion a year,” Gosin said. “People have been sitting on portfolios for way longer than they would have liked, and there is a certain amount of fatigue. …We are seeing investors want to unleash the opportunity and the capital to go play in the new market at new levels with new opportunities. … There is a lot of activity, and a lot of that is going to be in debt.”