According to Nick Murray the CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) the company’s real estate outsourcing market is approaching $1trn and growing at over 5% annually, ranging from individual outsourced services to strategic partnerships.
Nick adds companies outsource real estate operations to enable them to concentrate on things like lowering costs, improving efficiency, accessing talent and gaining flexibility. In addition, outsourcing relationships might commence with services or geography and expand as clients look for more integrated support in their real estate operations.
“We’re at our best… when we’re truly a strategic partner, when every facet of the real estate value chain we can help with.”
Nick Murray, CEO, Jones Lang LaSalle
JLL confirms 80% of its total revenue comes from resilient business lines and revenue growing 10% annually since 2020. The REMS organisation has reached 88,000 employees globally and operates in various geographies, asset types, client industries and service specialties. Nick reinforced that that scale must be projected into standardised processes, data consistency and client benefits. JLL manages 5.9 billion sq ft of space globally.
JLL has focused on codifying processes and operating standards for consistent delivery and keeping a culture which enables employees to respond to the circumstances that cannot be standardised in advance. Property Management became part of the REMS umbrella at the start of 2025. JLL has sought to globalise the business through consistent data, leadership, procedures and client segmentation.
Nick mention JLL has also reviewed some property-management relationships that didn’t fit its strategic direction and JLL is about 70% to 75% through that effort, which in some cases involved renegotiating arrangements or introducing alternative providers to clients.
He adds investors can view real estate as an operational asset, creating demand for portfolio-level property-management outsourcing. REMS receives roughly 25% of its business from investors and 75% from occupiers.
JLL’s has organised its occupier strategy around industry expertise rather than by property type. At present the company works across seven major industries and sub-industries while avoiding creating isolated operating silos. JLL has also experienced client needs vary as technology companies add manufacturing requirements, e-commerce companies expand brick-and-mortar operations and banks operate data centres.
Clients are addressing geopolitical uncertainty, changing business models, workforce needs, supply-chain considerations and growing real estate portfolios. They are also viewing facilities management, project management, portfolio strategy and workplace decisions as linked services.
JLL serves approximately half of the Fortune 500 and 95% of the top 100 investors. The company often provides only a single service to those investor clients. Nick describes the chance to expand existing relationships as substantial. JLL’s data and technology investments in the last ten years have well-positioned the company to use AI. Proprietary data formed through managing work orders, delivering projects, operating buildings, participating in capital-markets transactions and tracking building-use information can support predictive models and AI tools.
Within REMS, the company has sent over 100 AI agents across core processes. He characterised the technology to augment employees and expand capacity rather than replace workers, particularly in markets where talent availability constrains growth.
Nick does not expect AI to disintermediate JLL or cause fee compression in its outsourcing business, but instead AI can assist the company to generate efficiency savings for clients, a central component of outsourcing arrangements.
He also expects a shift towards more outcome-based contracts. Under those arrangements, clients focus is more on agreed results, with provider compensation tied to performance. The outcome-based contracts can facilitate margin expansion when JLL creates measurable client value.
JLL expects REMS to achieve high-single-digit revenue growth and average annual margin expansion of 50 basis points in the cycle through organic growth. Nick mentions the drivers comprise converting internally managed or out-tasked functions into wider outsourcing relationships, expanding services with existing clients, and leveraging data and AI.
JLL has balanced margin expansion with investment in AI systems, processes and talent. Nick said the company’s long-term differentiation relies on its data and technology investments, operational scale and a human-centred culture, REMS retains 99% of its top clients.
