This week we present our latest top 10 countdown of the UK’s largest commercial property agencies, ranked by annual revenues.
Lem Bingley, PW editor
There will, of course, be little surprise at the names that pop out on top: Savills, followed by JLL, CBRE and Knight Frank.
Jostling tends to feature further down the pack, where the latest tally shows that Colliers overtook Cushman & Wakefield to claim fifth place in our annual ranking, in the year to 31 December 2024.
If that passing manoeuvre seems like a long time ago then fair enough – the lagging indicator can’t be helped. Our ranking is based on filed company accounts, which turn up at a leisurely pace, usually at the last legally required moment. But we think these statements offer a more solid foundation than marketing and PR materials, which can prove about as reliable as a new year’s resolution.
A simple figure like the number of employees tends to be rounded up, pumped up or simply made up when the promotional professions intervene. The headcount reported to Companies House, we hope, will be closer to the mark.
Results prove one thing: that agencies bounce back both quickly and strongly when economic conditions improve
This year we are offering Premium subscribers an additional report, covering the next 15 companies, to form a top 25.
Researching this part of the market is no picnic – we assessed more than 100 UK firms offering commercial agency services of one sort or another, from ACRE Capital Real Estate to Willmott Property Services.
We excluded businesses primarily focused on domestic estate agency. This is why Leaders Romans Group (LRG), for example, doesn’t feature in our list. While LRG reported £19.7m in collective turnover across commercial agency or advisory activities in the year to 31 December 2024, that revenue represented less than 8% of its £257m turnover.
The vast majority of commercial property agencies are small and focused. Of the 100 or so we looked at, more than 70 filed only abbreviated accounts.
Among firms we’ve ranked between 11 and 25, there is plenty of movement. The rising stars – Allsop, Bidwells, BTG Consulting, Fisher German and Lambert Smith Hampton – stand out for the pace of revenue growth.
Interestingly, none of the firms in the trailing 15 has lost any money in the past four annual reporting cycles. This is a feat not matched by all of the top 10, where Avison Young has notably reported increasingly large losses over its four most recent reports, while others have also had splashes of red ink.
Among the trailing 15 the most notable firm going backwards, in reported revenue terms, is Montagu Evans, though it has preserved a healthy 24.5% operating margin. As the market picks up, it should be ready to claw its way back.
Impressively, three of the trailing 15 reported operating margins exceeding 35%.
All told, results up and down the top 25 agencies, across the past few years, prove one thing decisively: that while results can be highly susceptible to the economic weather, agencies bounce back both quickly and strongly when conditions improve. As we all hope they will as the second half of 2026 unfolds.
