CBRE Group, Inc. reported a 19% year-over-year increase in total revenue, driven largely by its rapid expansion into data center and critical infrastructure services, according to its first-quarter 2026 earnings release.
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The global real estate services firm generated $10.5 billion in revenue during the quarter, with significant gains across both its transactional and resilient business segments. Growth was particularly strong in building operations and experience, which rose 16% year over year as the company expanded its footprint in facilities management and project services.
A key driver behind the surge was CBRE’s growing role in the data center sector, where demand for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence and cloud computing continues to accelerate.
“Our move into critical infrastructure and data center services is going to be at least as profound as our move into outsourcing in the 1990s and early 2000s, and much faster,” said CEO Bob Sulentic during the company’s April 23 earnings call.
CBRE’s critical infrastructure services segment recorded a 71% year-over-year revenue increase, fueled by strong performance in its Data Center Solutions division and contributions from Pearce Services, which the company acquired late last year.
The firm generated more than $3 billion in infrastructure-related revenue in 2025 and nearly $950 million in the first quarter of 2026 alone. These services include support for data centers, telecom networks and power infrastructure — sectors experiencing rapid expansion due to rising digital demand.
Data center leasing revenue more than tripled compared to the previous year, reflecting increased activity from hyperscale users. CBRE has also secured multiple land sites for future data center development and is working to entitle those properties while ensuring access to critical utilities such as power and water.
“We … have secured dozens of land sites that have the potential to be data center land sites over time, and we are working with various data center users, especially the hyperscalers, to get that land entitled and [to bring] power [and] water to the land,” Sulentic said.
CBRE is also investing heavily in workforce development to support the growing demand for technical expertise in data center construction and operations. The company recently partnered with Meta Platforms, Inc. to launch a data center trade skills training initiative known as LevelUp.
The program aims to recruit, train and deploy skilled workers across multiple U.S. markets, addressing a key labor shortage in the rapidly expanding data infrastructure sector.
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“We are building capability in multiple cities around the U.S. to recruit, train, and place technical people to support Meta’s data center initiative,” Sulentic said. “It is really hard to get those people.”
Beyond infrastructure services, CBRE also reported strong performance in its traditional business lines. U.S. office leasing revenue increased 15%, while property sales surged 64%, with gains across all major asset classes.
The company’s strategy reflects a broader shift within the real estate and construction industries, as firms increasingly pivot toward high-growth sectors such as data centers, industrial development and multifamily housing.
“Coming out of COVID, CBRE … was and continues to be a massive office building business,” Sulentic said. “COVID hammered everything about office buildings, but we moved aggressively into industrial land, multifamily land and multifamily development. Within two years, we were back to record earnings.”
As demand for digital infrastructure continues to grow, CBRE’s expanding role in data center services positions it at the forefront of a major transformation in both the real estate and construction sectors.
Originally reported by Joe Burns, Reporter in Facilities Dive.
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