16 Best Real Estate Investment Banks & M&A Advisors (2026)

16 Best Real Estate Investment Banks & M&A Advisors (2026)

Last updated: October 29, 2026 · Registrar checks run: October 29, 2026

The best real estate investment banks and M&A advisors in 2026, ranked on filed adviser-of-record credits from October 2025 to October 2026, are Eastdil Secured, JLL Capital Markets, Newmark and CBRE, followed by Moelis, BofA Securities and J.P. Morgan for REIT deals, Walker & Dunlop and Berkadia for debt, and Hodes Weill and Park Madison for fund capital. The right one depends on your lane: selling one building is brokerage, refinancing is agency or debt-broker work, and placing JV equity or selling the company is securities work that needs a FINRA-registered broker-dealer. We checked every firm on FINRA BrokerCheck and the three agency lender lists on October 29, 2026; 13 of the 21 real estate advisory firms in our registrar table hold an active broker-dealer.

Key takeaways

• Eastdil Secured is #1 on evidence: it appears in more 2025-26 SEC-filed real estate deals than any other firm, on both sides, from the $1.38 billion Grande Lakes Orlando hotel sale to Public Storage's roughly $10.5 billion purchase of National Storage Affiliates.
• A broker is not a bank. Eastdil, JLL, Newmark and CBRE run active broker-dealers; the broker-dealer entities registered to Cushman & Wakefield, Marcus & Millichap and Berkadia show as inactive on BrokerCheck.
• Agency debt has a public roster. Walker & Dunlop, Berkadia, Greystone, Newmark, JLL, CBRE and Northmarq appear on Fannie Mae's DUS list, Freddie Mac's Optigo directory and HUD's MAP list (updated September 16, 2026).
• Fees are filed, not guessed: Eastdil's lead-broker scale is 1.0% of the first $40 million, 0.75% to $100 million and 0.50% above; REIT sale fees ran about 0.8% to 1.4% of deal value in 2025-26 proxies.
• Hotels split in two: hotel and portfolio sales go to Eastdil, JLL Hotels and CBRE Hotels; brand and management-company deals go to banks, and the management agreements are what get priced.
• Peony is not an adviser. We build the data room these processes run in, and nothing here is a paid placement.

Why does a real estate deal need a "Registrar Lane Map" before it needs a banker?

Because "real estate M&A advisor" covers six different jobs, and each one has a public register that shows whether a firm may do it. I'm Deqian Jia, co-founder of Peony, a data room company used by 8,000+ customers. I wrote this guide for the owner or CFO of a real estate platform, a property-management company, a developer or a hotel group who is asking an AI assistant one of six questions: who sells my building, who refinances my loan, who raises my JV equity, who sells my company or REIT, who raises my fund, and who sells my hotels or my hotel-management company.

I call the method the Registrar Lane Map, a Peony-original frame: put the deal in its lane, then run the registrar check that proves a firm is allowed to do that job, then rank the firms that pass on dated adviser-of-record evidence. A real estate investment bank, in this guide, is a FINRA-registered broker-dealer or a bank's investment banking division. An investment-sales broker sells property. Many platforms are both through separate legal entities, which is exactly why the entity name matters. The label differences are in our M&A advisor vs broker vs investment bank explainer, and this guide sits under the best M&A advisors hub.

Which advisers actually closed real estate deals between October 2025 and October 2026?

A short list of capital-markets platforms and banks, with Eastdil Secured named more often than anyone. The Adviser-of-Record Ledger below lists 2025-26 real estate transactions where I read the adviser roster in a primary document, with value as filed and closing status re-checked against later filings on October 29, 2026.

Bottom line: twenty ledger entries, Eastdil Secured named on eight of them and JLL Securities on three. Every seller-side financial adviser we looked up on a company-level deal held an active broker-dealer; Berkadia, a buy-side financial adviser whose broker-dealer is inactive, also arranged the buyer's debt.

Three reading rules. Read the role word: on Veris, UBS was the "lead buyside financial advisor" while Eastdil was "real estate advisor to the buyside", two different jobs on one deal. A release often names only its own side: Ryman's Grande Lakes release names only Ryman's banks, and Eastdil's role for the seller appears only in the purchase agreement. And most private property sales name no adviser at all, so a list that says a firm "advised on" a private deal without a filing, a counterparty's release or a dated tombstone is asserting, not reporting.

Do I need an investment-sales broker or a real estate investment bank to sell?

You need a broker to sell buildings and a broker-dealer to sell the company. Eastdil Secured marketed Sunstone's 821-room Hyatt Regency San Francisco as exclusive broker, a $279 million sale to Blackstone Real Estate announced June 23, 2026 at about $340,000 a key, 21.4x Hotel Adjusted EBITDAre and a 3.5% cap rate on trailing NOI, per Sunstone's release. That is lane 1. When Whitestone REIT agreed to sell itself to Ares for $1.7 billion on April 9, 2026, the shares changed hands, so the advisers were BofA Securities and Jones Lang LaSalle Securities, both broker-dealers. That is lane 4.

The test is what the buyer receives. A fee-simple sale transfers property. The moment you sell interests in the entity, to a buyer or to passive co-investors, you may be selling securities: the Supreme Court's Howey decision of May 27, 1946 defines an investment contract as "a contract, transaction or scheme" where an investor "is led to expect profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or a third party." That describes most JV and LP equity.

Most of the big names run both businesses through different legal entities, and the entity is what you hire:

Eastdil's filed fee schedule shows what brokerage costs. In the Stratus Properties proxy of April 24, 2026, if Stratus hires Eastdil to sell properties in its liquidation, the fee where Eastdil is lead broker is "1.0% of the first $40 million of aggregate gross proceeds," 0.75% from $40 million to $100 million and 0.50% above $100 million; on properties it does not lead, 0.25% of the first $40 million and 0.20% above. On a $100 million sale that is $850,000, about 0.85%; on $250 million it is $1.6 million, about 0.64%, our arithmetic. Our M&A advisor fees guide covers the Lehman-style scales operating-company banks use instead.

Who handles debt placement and refinancing-wall recapitalizations in 2026?

Agency lenders for stabilized multifamily, debt brokers for everything else, and a broker-dealer for the equity gap. Walker & Dunlop "was ranked the largest Fannie Mae lender for the seventh consecutive year and the third-largest Freddie Mac lender for 2025," with a 2025 GSE market share of 11.2%, per its February 26, 2026 results. Berkadia arranged the financing for the KWHP-Ascendant joint venture on its Sotherly Hotels take-private, which closed February 12, 2026, per the closing release.

The pressure is in the data. The Mortgage Bankers Association's October 27, 2026 survey found 4.97% of CMBS loan balances 30 or more days delinquent in the third quarter of 2026, up from 4.82%, against 1.16% for GSE loans and 0.90% for FHA loans, and MBA's chief economist warned that "the large number of scheduled maturities coming due amidst the recent spike in interest rates will continue to be a headwind." Agency volume is not a given either: Newmark reported that industry GSE placement activity "declined by 30%" in the third quarter of 2026, per its October 29, 2026 results, while JLL's debt advisory revenue rose 13% and its equity advisory revenue 39% year on year, per its October 28, 2026 results. Recapitalizations are where the growth is.

Before you take a term sheet, check the lender against the three agency rosters. We read all three on October 29, 2026:

Fannie Mae's DUS network has 24 lenders; Freddie Mac's directory lists 26 Optigo lenders. Eastdil is absent from all three, which is expected: it advises and brokers, and it is not an agency lender. One statutory trap matters here. The M&A broker exemption in Section 15(b)(13) of the Exchange Act is unavailable to a broker that "directly, or indirectly through any of its affiliates, provides financing related to the transfer of ownership." An adviser whose lending affiliate is also financing your buyer cannot lean on that exemption for the sale.

Who places JV equity and preferred equity, and are they registered?

Firms with an active broker-dealer, and the most recent filed preferred-equity credit belongs to CBRE. CBRE Investment Banking was "lead financial advisor to Maewyn" on its up-to-$100 million delayed-draw convertible perpetual preferred investment in Chiron Real Estate, announced May 6, 2026, per Chiron's release; J.P. Morgan and BMO advised Chiron. On BrokerCheck, CBRE's broker-dealer is CBRE Capital Advisors, Inc., CRD 140565, whose other registered names include "SERA Private Funds Group" and "Trammell Crow Capital Corporation."

The legal line is short. Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act makes it unlawful for a broker "to effect any transactions in" securities "unless such broker or dealer is registered." The M&A broker exemption in Section 15(b)(13) narrows that for sales of privately held companies with EBITDA below $25 million or gross revenue below $250 million, but it is unavailable for a transfer of ownership to a passive buyer, for a buyer group "formed with the assistance of the M&A broker," and for a broker that provides financing. A JV equity raise from passive capital fails the first test by design.

So run BrokerCheck on the entity that will sign your placement agreement. What we found on October 29, 2026:

Thirteen of 21 active. Walker & Dunlop's broker-dealer is not under its own name: its 2025 10-K subsidiary list shows "WDIB, LLC d/b/a Zelman & Associates" and "Zelman Partners, LLC", and BrokerCheck shows WDIB, LLC as Zelman Partners' managing member. An inactive record is not an accusation; it means the firm should tell you which registered entity will hold your placement, before you sign.

Who advises on REIT, platform and management-company M&A?

The REIT bench since October 2025 is Eastdil, Moelis, BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, JLL Securities, Lazard, Houlihan Lokey and Evercore, each on a filed deal. Moelis was lead financial adviser to Makarora on its $2.1 billion take-private of Plymouth Industrial REIT, announced October 24, 2025 and closed January 27, 2026. BofA Securities was exclusive adviser to Alexander & Baldwin on its $2.3 billion take-private and adviser to Whitestone on its $1.7 billion sale to Ares. JLL Securities co-advised City Office REIT on its sale to MCME Carell, closed January 9, 2026, and Whitestone, and is co-advising Franklin Street Properties' review.

Three patterns matter for a platform owner rather than a public REIT:

• Eastdil works the buy side as often as the sell side. It advised Blackstone on Alexander & Baldwin, MCME Carell on City Office, the Affinius consortium on Veris, Public Storage on National Storage Affiliates and Athene on its roughly $9 billion purchase of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance's loan portfolio, agreed January 2026 and closed April 24, 2026. If your likely buyer is a large sponsor, assume Eastdil is across the table.
• The capital-markets platforms now win company mandates. JLL Securities' three REIT engagements and Newmark's role as real estate adviser to Sonida on its $1.8 billion CNL Healthcare Properties merger show a sell-side model where the platform that knows the buildings co-advises with a bank that writes the fairness opinion.
• Management-company value is in the contracts. Braemar Hotels & Resorts said on October 8, 2026 that terminating its external advisory relationship with Ashford would cut annual corporate G&A from about $42 million to about $15 million, per its release. An external manager's fee stream is the asset a buyer of a management company is paying for.

For selling the investment manager itself, the dated specialist is Hodes Weill & Associates: it advised Federated Hermes on buying a majority interest in FCP, a real estate manager with $3.8 billion of client assets, in October 2025, and Artisan Partners on acquiring Grandview Property Partners in November 2025. Senior housing platforms should also read our healthcare M&A advisors guide, since NHI's $560 million portfolio sale, closed July 1, 2026, used Houlihan Lokey for its special committee and Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors as transaction adviser.

Who raises capital for real estate fund managers and advises on GP stakes?

Placement agents named on the fund's Form D, which is the registrar check most owners never run. Form D filings list every paid "sales compensation recipient" with a CRD number, so the adviser that actually placed a fund is a matter of record. I call this the Form D test. What it shows for real estate funds since October 2025:

Two cautions from running it. Check the CRD, not just the name: the December 2025 Form D for Horizon MH Communities Fund III lists Park Madison Partners under CRD 144016, which returned no firm on BrokerCheck; Park Madison's CRD is 140016. And the commission line is an estimate: estimated sales commissions on the funds above that report one run from $575,000 on Bell Partners' $1.0 billion (0.06%) and $530,912 on TruAmerica II-A (0.15%) to $3.9 million on Raith IV (0.44%), $6.4 million on US Industrial Club VII (0.76%), $24.3 million on Realty Income's fund (1.40%) and $10 million on Related IV's $364 million Jersey feeder (about 2.75%), our arithmetic; Centerbridge III estimates $10 million before any sales. Fees a manager pays out of its own pocket may not appear at all.

GP stakes in real estate managers are rarer on the public record than fund placements. The closest dated credits are the two Hodes Weill manager deals above; the Federated Hermes purchase was a majority interest, not a minority GP stake. If someone pitches you a GP-stake process, ask for the Form D or the counterparty release that names them. Our real estate fund data room guide covers what LPs ask for in that diligence.

Which investment banks specialize in hospitality transactions?

Eastdil Secured for large hotel sales, JLL Hotels & Hospitality and CBRE Hotels for smaller ones, and a bank whenever the company or its management contracts are what you are selling. Eastdil was the seller's broker on Trinity Investments' $1.38 billion sale of Grande Lakes Orlando, a 1,010-room JW Marriott and a 582-room Ritz-Carlton, to Ryman Hospitality, signed August 10, 2026 and closed September 1, 2026; section 15.2 of the filed purchase agreement names Eastdil as the seller's only broker. Hotels are the one lane where the two halves need different advisers, so this section splits them. For franchise consent and PIP mechanics, see our hotel data room guide; for local benches, the Miami and Los Angeles city guides.

Who sells a hotel or a hotel portfolio?

Hotel brokers, scaled by deal size. At the top, Eastdil holds two 2026 hotel credits: Grande Lakes at $1.38 billion and Sunstone's Hyatt Regency San Francisco at $279 million. Below $15 million, Moody National REIT II's filed sale agreements name JLL Hotels & Hospitality as seller's broker on the $9.4 million Homewood Suites Austin sale, agreed November 24, 2025 and closed December 30, 2025, and CBRE Hotels on an $8.4 million hotel in Spring, Texas agreed November 17, 2025. The big platforms take small hotels too.

A public hotel company can run both tracks at once. Braemar Hotels & Resorts hired Robert W. Baird & Co. as financial adviser for a sale of the company or its assets, per its fourth-quarter 2025 release, and appointed "real estate broker co-advisors" for individual hotels. The result was asset sales rather than a company sale: the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota, Hotel Yountville and Bardessono for $437.5 million, about $1.0 million a key, closed July 14, 2026; the Pier House for $190.0 million on August 21, 2026; and a definitive agreement, announced September 29, 2026, to sell the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale for $372 million, per its October 8, 2026 update. On Sotherly's ten-hotel take-private, Piper Sandler advised the special committee for a $1 million fee and Berkadia advised and financed the buyer.

Who advises on selling a hotel management company or a hotel brand?

A bank with a broker-dealer, and the public evidence is thinner than lists suggest. The dated template is Hyatt's $2.0 billion sale of Playa's owned resort real estate to Tortuga, closed December 30, 2025: BDT & MSD Partners was Hyatt's lead financial adviser, Berkadia its real estate adviser and Goldman Sachs Tortuga's exclusive adviser, per Hyatt's release. Hyatt kept "50-year management agreements for 13 of the 14 properties," retained $200 million of preferred equity in Tortuga and can earn up to a further $143 million. The brand sold the dirt and kept the contracts, which is the value a management company or brand is priced on.

The contracts move on a sale. When the KWHP-Ascendant joint venture closed on Sotherly in February 2026, its release announced that Schulte Hospitality would take over hotel management of the portfolio. If you own a third-party management company, the buyer is underwriting your contract terms, termination rights and owner concentration, and the PIP and franchise consents on the hotels you manage. I found no SEC-filed adviser credit for a pure third-party management-company sale between October 2025 and October 2026, so ask any bank pitching you for three named, dated closes.

Who are the 16 best real estate investment banks and M&A advisors, ranked?

Ranked by filed adviser-of-record evidence from October 2025 to October 2026 first and relevance to a platform owner second, with the registrar check as a gate: a firm cannot rank in a securities lane without an active broker-dealer. Positions 5 to 7 are large-cap banks ranked on deals above $1 billion; below about $500 million of value they are usually across the table, not your hire. Disclosure: JLL is a Peony customer; that did not move its rank, which rests on the filings cited.

1. Eastdil Secured: the most filed credits, on both sides of the table

Eastdil Secured has been its own broker-dealer since FINRA approved Eastdil Secured Advisors LLC on October 1, 2019, per BrokerCheck. Savills completed its purchase of Eastdil on August 3, 2026, at an enterprise value of $1.1125 billion, and the firm now operates as Eastdil Secured Savills, per Eastdil's release. Its 2025-26 record covers every lane except agency lending: seller's broker on Grande Lakes ($1.38 billion) and the Hyatt Regency San Francisco ($279 million); financial adviser to the sellers of Public Storage Canada ($1.2 billion); adviser to Americold on its $1.3 billion EQT joint venture; buy-side adviser to Blackstone, MCME Carell, the Affinius consortium and Public Storage; a joint lead financial adviser to Prologis on its agreed combination with SEGRO, per the co-operation agreement dated August 4, 2026; and a named placement agent on Digital Realty fund Form Ds. Verdict: the default call for any real estate sale above $250 million; below that, ask who on the team will run your deal.

2. JLL Capital Markets: the platform that became a REIT sell-side bank

JLL's broker-dealer, Jones Lang LaSalle Securities, also registers the name "JLL Real Estate Investment Banking" on BrokerCheck. It co-advised City Office REIT (fee about $5.0 million including a Phoenix asset sale) and Whitestone REIT (about $6.25 million, contingent on closing), and co-advises Franklin Street Properties. It is the named placement agent on US Industrial Club VII and FrontRange Property Fund IV. JLL Real Estate Capital sits on all three agency lists, and JLL Hotels & Hospitality took sub-$10 million hotels to market for Moody National REIT II. Verdict: the broadest single platform for an owner who needs sale, debt and equity from one team.

3. Newmark: real estate adviser on platform mergers, and a large debt desk

Newmark Securities, LLC was approved on April 8, 2021 and is registered in five states on BrokerCheck. Newmark was real estate adviser to Sonida Senior Living on its roughly $1.8 billion CNL Healthcare Properties merger, closed March 11, 2026, and a real estate adviser to Rithm Capital on its $1.6 billion Paramount Group agreement in September 2025, labelled here as track record. Its first-quarter 2026 release cites the financing of the $4.3 billion One Beverly Hills development. Berkeley Point Capital, doing business as Newmark, is on HUD's MAP list. Verdict: strongest where the platform deal is really a real estate valuation question.

4. CBRE: the only dated preferred-equity lead-adviser credit

CBRE Investment Banking led Maewyn's up-to-$100 million convertible preferred in Chiron in May 2026, the only filed preferred-equity lead-adviser credit we found in the window; CBRE's registered broker-dealer is CBRE Capital Advisors, Inc. It is the named placement agent on Realty Income's $1.74 billion U.S. Core Plus Fund. CBRE Multifamily Capital, CBRE Capital Markets and CBRE HMF cover the three agency lists, and CBRE Hotels sold a Moody National REIT II hotel. Verdict: first call for a preferred or JV equity raise that needs a broker-dealer and a lender in one building.

5. Moelis & Company: lead adviser on a $2.1 billion industrial take-private

Moelis was lead financial adviser to Makarora, with Ares, on Plymouth Industrial REIT, announced October 24, 2025 with a 30-day go-shop and closed January 27, 2026. Plymouth's own advisers, KeyBanc and J.P. Morgan, expected fees of about $15.4 million and up to $8 million, per the December 2025 proxy. Verdict: a buyer's bank for sponsor-led REIT take-privates.

6. BofA Securities: the REIT sell-side fairness-opinion bank

BofA Securities was exclusive adviser to Alexander & Baldwin on its $2.3 billion take-private and adviser to Whitestone on its $1.7 billion sale to Ares, adviser with J.P. Morgan to Ryman on Grande Lakes, and co-adviser with JLL Securities to Franklin Street Properties. Its filed fees were about $18.1 million on Alexander & Baldwin and about $17.5 million on Whitestone. Verdict: hire for a public company or a billion-dollar platform; it is the opinion-writing half of a two-bank team.

7. J.P. Morgan: sell-side on Veris and Plymouth, buy-side on Ryman

J.P. Morgan advised Veris Residential, with Morgan Stanley, on its $3.4 billion sale, for a fee of up to about $22 million, and Plymouth with KeyBanc; it advised Ryman on Grande Lakes, Chiron on its preferred, and remains Sunstone's financial adviser. Verdict: a large-cap bank for public multifamily and hotel REITs.

8. Walker & Dunlop: the agency lender with a broker-dealer subsidiary

Walker & Dunlop was Fannie Mae's largest lender for the seventh consecutive year and Freddie Mac's third-largest in 2025, with an 11.2% share of GSE lending. Its broker-dealer is Zelman Partners, LLC, CRD 145187; its subsidiary list names both WDIB, LLC d/b/a Zelman & Associates and Zelman Partners. Verdict: first call for a stabilized multifamily refinance; ask whether any equity piece will run through Zelman Partners.

9. Berkadia: hotel real estate adviser and acquisition financier

Berkadia was Hyatt's real estate adviser on the $2.0 billion Playa real estate sale and sole financial adviser to the Sotherly buyer, arranging its financing. It is on all three agency lists. Its broker-dealer, Berkadia Capital Markets LLC, is inactive on BrokerCheck. Verdict: strong on hotel and multifamily debt and real estate advice; use a registered firm for any equity placement.

10. Hodes Weill & Associates: the manager-M&A and fund-placement boutique

Hodes Weill Securities has been FINRA-approved since November 16, 2004. It advised Federated Hermes on FCP and Artisan Partners on Grandview, and appears on Form D filings for Bell Partners' $1.0 billion fund, Centerbridge Partners Real Estate Fund III and Clarion Gables Multifamily Trust. Verdict: the boutique to call when you are selling or buying a real estate investment manager.

11. Park Madison Partners: the most frequent real estate placement agent on Form D

Park Madison Partners LLC has been a registered broker-dealer since August 16, 2006. Since October 2025 it appears on Form D filings for Ares Industrial Real Estate Fund ($3.57 billion sold), TruAmerica Workforce Housing Fund II, 1547 Data Center Fund III, Mandrake Capital Real Estate Fund II and Horizon MH Communities Fund III. Verdict: a placement agent for emerging and mid-size real estate managers; check the CRD on your own Form D.

12. Lazard: international carve-outs for US REITs

Lazard advised Sun Communities on the roughly $1.03 billion sale of its UK business, Park Holidays, to Aermont, agreed May 21, 2026 and completed September 22, 2026, and advised LNT on CareTrust's October 2026 UK care-home pipeline agreement. Verdict: hire for a cross-border carve-out.

13. Evercore: SEGRO's adviser and a fund placement agent

Evercore, with Morgan Stanley, advised SEGRO's directors on the Prologis combination, and Evercore Group is the named placement agent on Raith Real Estate Fund IV and Related Real Estate Fund IV. Verdict: a public-company defence bank with a real estate private-capital desk.

14. Houlihan Lokey: special committees on conflicted sales

Houlihan Lokey Capital advised NHI's special committee on the $560 million sale of its NHC portfolio, announced April 21, 2026. Verdict: hire when the board needs an adviser independent of an insider counterparty.

15. Piper Sandler: small-cap hotel REIT special committees

Piper Sandler was exclusive adviser to Sotherly's special committee for a $1 million fee, $650,000 of it paid on the October 22, 2025 fairness opinion and credited, per the Sotherly proxy. Verdict: a realistic bank for a sub-$500 million hotel company.

16. Greystone: agency and HUD lender, not an adviser

Greystone appears on all three agency lists through Greystone Servicing Company and Greystone Funding Company, and we found no active broker-dealer and no dated adviser-of-record credit. Verdict: a lender to price against Walker & Dunlop and Berkadia, not a banker.

How do I check an advisor on FINRA BrokerCheck and the agency lender lists?

It takes about five minutes per firm, and you should run it before the engagement letter, not after. The five-minute registrar check:

1. Ask which legal entity will sign your engagement or placement agreement. The brand is not the entity.
2. Search that entity on FINRA BrokerCheck and write down the CRD. "Active" means the broker-dealer is approved now; read the disclosures tab too.
3. For agency debt, find the lending entity on Fannie Mae's DUS list, Freddie Mac's Optigo directory and HUD's MAP list. A firm can be on one and not the others: Colliers appears on Fannie Mae's DUS list and HUD's MAP list but not in Freddie Mac's Optigo directory.
4. For a fund, open your prior Form D or a peer's and check the placement agent's CRD against BrokerCheck.
5. Ask for three filed credits from the last 12 months with the role word, and check them in EDGAR yourself.

This is also the honest answer to "how do I compare advisors before pursuing a real estate merger": a firm that cannot pass the registrar check in your lane is not in the comparison.

What do real estate investment banks and brokers charge?

On 2025-26 filings, about 0.8% to 1.4% of deal value for a REIT sale split across its banks, and 0.5% to 1.0% for a lead property broker on Eastdil's filed scale. The disclosed numbers:

Sources: the Alexander & Baldwin, Whitestone, Veris and City Office proxies, plus the Plymouth, Sotherly and Stratus proxies linked above. Two patterns: the fairness-opinion fee is usually payable whether or not the deal closes, then credited; and the Stratus schedule says Eastdil's fees were "not dependent upon completion of the liquidation." No real estate brokerage publishes a fee for a private platform sale under $250 million, and I will not invent one.

Who did we leave off, and why?

Every firm below is real. What is missing is dated evidence in the window, or a registrar match for the lane it is usually listed in.

• Hodges Ward Elliott, the hotel investment-sales boutique. Its newsroom's newest dated item is October 8, 2024, the sale of The Beeman Hotel in Dallas, and BrokerCheck returned no firm record. Its 2022-24 record, including Amangani in Jackson Hole and the Hilton Brooklyn, is track record, not current evidence.
• HVS. Its brokerage and advisory page describes hotel investment sales, capital markets and valuation but lists no dated transactions, and BrokerCheck returned no firm record. It remains a common source of hotel valuations.
• Cushman & Wakefield and Marcus & Millichap. Both are large property brokerages, but the broker-dealer entities registered to them are inactive and neither appeared as an adviser of record in the SEC filings we read. Calling either an "investment bank" is the most common error in competing lists.
• Ackman-Ziff. A 2026 SEC filing describes it as "an institutional real estate capital advisory firm"; BrokerCheck showed only an inactive Ackman Ziff Chazen Realty Advisors LLC. Ask which broker-dealer will hold an equity placement.
• Northmarq. On all three agency lists, with no broker-dealer and no dated advisory credit; a lender, like Greystone.
• Robert Douglas. BrokerCheck returned no firm record under that name, and no SEC filing in the window named it as an adviser.
• One-credit banks. Raymond James (City Office), KeyBanc (Plymouth, CNL Healthcare), RBC (Sonida), Baird (Braemar), BDT & MSD Partners (Hyatt), Goldman Sachs (Tortuga, Veris, Public Storage), UBS (Veris), Citi (Whitestone, Plymouth), Morgan Stanley (Veris, SEGRO, National Storage Affiliates, EQT), Wells Fargo (Alexander & Baldwin, Public Storage), BMO (Sonida, Chiron) and PJT Park Hill (Digital Realty fund) are named in the ledger and lanes but not ranked, because each holds few credits here or works mostly above $1 billion.

What should the data room look like for a real estate sale or recapitalization?

One NDA-gated room per process, with the rent roll, T-12, leases, estoppels and loan documents staged so each bidder or JV partner sees only what its stage needs. In Peony, the Business plan at $30 per admin per month billed yearly covers a simple NDA gate for the teaser and offering-memorandum stage; the Data Room plan at $52 per admin per month billed yearly ($75 monthly) adds a signed Advanced NDA, dynamic watermarks, and unlimited data rooms and storage, so each lender, buyer or equity partner can get its own room. Page-level analytics run on every plan, and viewers are free and unlimited.

The core index for a real estate sale or recap, which our real estate due diligence checklist expands:

• Rent roll and T-12 operating statements, with the budget and capex history.
• Leases and amendments, tenant estoppels and SNDAs. Estoppels are where closings slip, so load them as they come back.
• Loan documents: note, mortgage, assumption terms, guaranties and any lender consents the transaction triggers.
• Title, survey, zoning, Phase I environmental and property condition reports.
• Service, management and franchise agreements; for hotels, STR reports, the PIP and the franchisor's transfer terms.
• Tax bills, insurance policies and loss runs.

Three Peony features matter most here. Visitor groups wall competing bidders off from each other inside one process. In Q&A, AI drafts a cited first answer to each bidder question from the room's own documents; your team edits it, and nothing reaches the bidder until you publish. Visitor Q&A starts on Data Room, and Deal Team ($64 per admin per month, minimum four admins) adds expert and approver routing and advanced redaction for tenant names. AI document Q&A lets an approved bidder interrogate the leases with page-level citations, switched on or off per visitor group, and document content is not used to train any model.

For scale, Peony's State of M&A Data Rooms Q3 2026 edition, covering 733 transactions from $1 million to $500 million, found sub-$50 million rooms average about 1,206 files, 29 users and 79 Q&A questions, with a median of 5.5 bidders a room. The honest limit: on a process above $500 million where the counterparty's bank requires Datasite or Intralinks, use what they require. Software comparisons for the asset side are in best data rooms for commercial real estate and our data room for real estate playbook. Start now.

So which real estate advisor should you hire?

The one whose dated evidence and registration match your lane and your size. This is our reading of the bench, not a published standard:

• Under $25 million, one or a few assets: an investment-sales broker. JLL Hotels and CBRE Hotels took hotels under $10 million to market in late 2025.
• A stabilized multifamily refinance: an agency lender from the three lists, priced against at least one other; Walker & Dunlop is the volume leader.
• A recap with an equity gap, $25 million to $500 million: a capital-markets team with an active broker-dealer: JLL Securities, Newmark Securities, CBRE Capital Advisors or Eastdil.
• A platform, management-company or REIT sale: Eastdil or a capital-markets broker-dealer for the real estate view, plus a bank for the fairness opinion if you are public: BofA, J.P. Morgan, Moelis, Lazard or Evercore.
• A fund raise or a manager sale: Park Madison, Hodes Weill or Evercore, checked against Form D.
• Hotels: Eastdil, JLL Hotels or CBRE Hotels for the hotels; a bank with a broker-dealer for the company, and a lawyer who reads the management agreements first.

Whoever you hire, ask for the CRD and three filed credits in the first meeting.

FAQ

I'm selling my hotel portfolio and need deal advisory — which investment banks specialize in hospitality transactions?

For the hotels themselves, Eastdil Secured has the deepest dated record: it was the seller's broker on Trinity Investments' $1.38 billion Grande Lakes Orlando sale to Ryman Hospitality, signed August 10, 2026, and the exclusive broker on Sunstone's $279 million Hyatt Regency San Francisco sale in June 2026. JLL Hotels & Hospitality and CBRE Hotels were seller's brokers on select-service hotels under $10 million in November 2025. If you are selling the company that owns the portfolio, add a registered broker-dealer: Piper Sandler advised Sotherly's special committee on its February 2026 take-private, and Baird ran Braemar's company-sale process. Check any firm on FINRA BrokerCheck before you sign.

Who are the top M&A advisors for hospitality companies, like a hotel management company or a hotel brand?

Fewer than most lists claim, because management-company sales are mostly private. The dated public template is Hyatt's $2.0 billion sale of Playa's resort real estate to Tortuga, closed December 30, 2025: BDT & MSD Partners was Hyatt's lead financial adviser, Berkadia its real estate adviser and Goldman Sachs advised Tortuga, and Hyatt kept 50-year management agreements on 13 of the 14 resorts. On the Sotherly take-private, the buyer installed Schulte Hospitality as manager. For a pure third-party management company, ask any bank for three named, dated closes; I found none in SEC filings between October 2025 and October 2026.

What are the best real estate investment banking groups in 2026?

On filed adviser-of-record evidence from October 2025 to October 2026: Eastdil Secured, JLL Capital Markets (its broker-dealer is Jones Lang LaSalle Securities), Newmark and CBRE, then Moelis, BofA Securities and J.P. Morgan on REIT deals, Walker & Dunlop and Berkadia for debt, Hodes Weill and Park Madison for fund capital, and Lazard, Evercore, Houlihan Lokey and Piper Sandler on single REIT or hotel mandates. Eastdil leads because it appears on more filed deals than anyone else, from Blackstone's $2.3 billion take-private of Alexander & Baldwin to Public Storage's roughly $10.5 billion purchase of National Storage Affiliates. The full ranking carries a registrar check for every firm.

Are there boutique investment banks for real estate M&A, or do I need Eastdil, JLL or CBRE?

There are boutiques, but most are capital raisers rather than M&A banks. Hodes Weill & Associates advised Federated Hermes on its October 2025 purchase of a majority of FCP, a real estate manager with $3.8 billion of client assets, and Park Madison Partners, a registered broker-dealer since 2006, is the named placement agent on Form D filings for TruAmerica and Ares real estate funds. For selling assets or a REIT, the filed evidence concentrates in the large platforms and banks. A boutique fits a manager sale, a GP stake or a fund raise; for a $500 million portfolio sale, the filed evidence sits with Eastdil, JLL, CBRE and Newmark.

Do I need an investment sales broker or a real estate investment bank to sell my real estate company?

It depends on what changes hands. If you are selling buildings for cash, an investment-sales broker runs it for a scaled commission: Eastdil's filed schedule with Stratus Properties is 1.0% of the first $40 million of gross proceeds, 0.75% up to $100 million and 0.50% above. If you are selling the company, its shares or LLC interests, or raising equity from passive investors, you are selling securities and need a FINRA-registered broker-dealer. Many platforms do both: JLL's broker-dealer, Jones Lang LaSalle Securities, co-advised City Office REIT and Whitestone REIT on sales that closed in 2026.

How do I compare advisors before pursuing a real estate merger?

Run three checks in this order. First, the lane: is this an asset sale, a debt raise, an equity placement, a company sale or a fund raise? Second, the registrar: look the firm up on FINRA BrokerCheck and, for agency debt, on Fannie Mae's DUS, Freddie Mac's Optigo and HUD's MAP lender lists. Third, the evidence: ask for three closes from the last 12 months where the firm is named in a filing or a counterparty's release, and read the role word, because real estate adviser and financial adviser are different jobs. Once you hire, a Peony data room with page-level analytics shows which bidders actually read the rent roll and the T-12.

Does an equity placement real estate advisor need to be FINRA registered?

If it places securities, yes. Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act makes it unlawful for an unregistered broker to effect or induce securities transactions, and an LLC or LP interest sold to passive investors can be an investment contract under the Supreme Court's 1946 Howey test. The M&A broker exemption in Section 15(b)(13) does not cover a sale to a passive buyer, a buyer group the broker assembled, or a broker whose affiliate finances the deal. On BrokerCheck on October 29, 2026, Eastdil, JLL, Newmark and CBRE had active broker-dealers; the broker-dealer entities registered to Cushman & Wakefield, Marcus & Millichap and Berkadia were inactive.

Our loan matures in 2026 and the bank won't extend — who handles commercial real estate debt advisory and a recapitalization?

Split it into the loan and the equity gap. For multifamily, start with an agency lender: Walker & Dunlop was Fannie Mae's largest lender for the seventh straight year in 2025, and Berkadia, Greystone, Newmark, JLL, CBRE and Northmarq sit on Fannie Mae's DUS, Freddie Mac's Optigo and HUD's MAP lists. For office, retail, hotels or a loan above agency appetite, a debt broker such as JLL, Newmark, CBRE or Eastdil runs the lender process. If the new loan leaves a gap, preferred or JV equity fills it, and that needs a broker-dealer.

Who helps a real estate fund manager raise a fund or sell a GP stake?

Read the fund's Form D: it lists every paid placement agent with a CRD number. Since October 2025, Park Madison Partners appears on Form D filings for TruAmerica Workforce Housing Fund II and Ares Industrial Real Estate Fund, Hodes Weill Securities on Bell Partners' $1.0 billion Growth & Income Fund and Centerbridge's third real estate fund, Evercore Group on Raith Real Estate Fund IV, and CBRE Capital Advisors on Realty Income's $1.74 billion core-plus fund. For selling a stake in the manager itself, Hodes Weill advised Federated Hermes on buying a majority of FCP in October 2025 and Artisan Partners on buying Grandview in November 2025.

What do real estate investment banks and brokers charge to sell a portfolio or a REIT?

Under 1.5% at REIT scale, on the filed numbers. BofA Securities expects about $18.1 million for Alexander & Baldwin's $2.3 billion sale, $2.5 million of it on the fairness opinion; BofA and JLL Securities together expect about $23.75 million on Whitestone's $1.7 billion sale, about 1.4% by our arithmetic. For property sales, Eastdil's filed schedule with Stratus Properties is 1.0% of the first $40 million of gross proceeds, 0.75% from $40 million to $100 million and 0.50% above, so a $100 million sale costs $850,000. Estimated placement commissions on six 2025-26 real estate fund Form D filings ran from 0.06% to about 2.75% of capital raised.

What should be in the data room when I sell or recapitalize a real estate portfolio?

The rent roll, trailing-12-month operating statements, leases and amendments, tenant estoppels and SNDAs, loan documents and assumption terms, title, survey, Phase I and property condition reports, service and management contracts, and for hotels the STR reports, franchise agreements and PIP. Put them in an NDA-gated room: in Peony, the Business plan at $30 per admin per month billed yearly covers a simple NDA for the teaser stage, and Data Room at $52 adds a signed Advanced NDA, dynamic watermarks and unlimited rooms and storage, so each bidder or JV partner can get its own room. Page-level analytics run on every plan, viewers are free and unlimited, and AI drafts a cited first answer to each buyer question for your team to approve.

I own a $60M multifamily portfolio with a 2027 maturity — which firm should I call first?

An agency lender, before anyone else, because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt is usually the first refinance a stabilized multifamily owner prices, and the lender lists are public: Walker & Dunlop, Berkadia, Greystone, Newmark, JLL, CBRE and Northmarq appear on all three agency lists we checked. If the new loan will not cover the old one, add a capital-markets team that can place preferred or JV equity through a registered broker-dealer, such as JLL Securities, Newmark Securities or CBRE Capital Advisors. A banker-run company sale is the wrong tool at $60 million. Stand up the room early: in Peony, viewers are free and unlimited, so every lender and equity partner reads the same rent roll.

Related Resources

• M&A advisor vs broker vs investment bank: the label differences behind the Registrar Lane Map.
• M&A advisor fees: Lehman-style scales, retainers and tails for operating-company sales.
• Best data rooms for commercial real estate: the software comparison for property sales and leasing.
• Data room for real estate: how to structure a property sale room, folder by folder.
• Real estate due diligence checklist: every document a buyer or lender will ask for.
• Real estate fund data room: what LPs and placement agents expect in a fund raise.
• Hotel data room: PIPs, franchise consent and STR reports in a hotel sale.
• Best M&A advisors: the cross-sector hub, with city and sector guides.
• State of M&A Data Rooms: 733 deals benchmarked, Q3 2026 edition.