Company: MMI
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001578732-25-000015
Chunk: 84

Company: Marcus & Millichap, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 84
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 has diminished. Ultimately, the market velocity will be dictated by a combination of the economic outlook, geopolitical forces, Federal Reserve action, interest rates and the narrowing of the buyer/seller expectation gap. If interest rates trend lower, we believe commercial real estate investment activity could gain additional momentum.

Seasonality

Our real estate brokerage commissions and financing fees have tended to be seasonal and, combined with other factors, can affect an investor’s ability to compare our financial condition and results of operations on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Historically, this seasonality has generally caused our revenue, operating income, net income, and cash flows from operating activities to be lower in the first half of the year and higher in the second half of the year, particularly in the 

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fourth quarter. The concentration of earnings and cash flows in the last six months of the year, particularly in the fourth quarter, is due to an industry-wide focus of clients to complete transactions towards the end of the calendar year. This historical trend can be disrupted both positively and negatively by major economic events, political events, natural disasters, or public health crises, which may impact, among other things, investor sentiment for a particular property type or location, volatility in financial markets, current and future projections of interest rates, attractiveness of other asset classes, market liquidity, and the extent of limitations or availability of capital allocations for larger property buyers, among others. Private client investors may accelerate or delay transactions due to personal or business-related reasons unrelated to economic events. In addition, our operating margins are typically lower during the second half of each year due to our commission structure for some of our senior investment sales and financing professionals. These senior investment sales and financing professionals are on a graduated commission schedule that resets annually, pursuant to which higher commissions are paid for higher sales volumes. During 2024, seasonal fluctuations were disrupted by changes in overall market conditions and interest rates, and going forward our historical pattern of seasonality may or may not continue to the same degree experienced in prior years. 

Key Financial Measures and Indicators

Revenue

Our revenue is primarily generated from our real estate investment sales business. In addition to real estate brokerage commissions, we generate revenue from financing fees and from other revenue, which are primarily comprised of consulting and advisory fees. 

Because our business is transaction oriented, we rely on investment sales and financing professionals to continually develop leads, identify properties to sell and finance, market those properties and close the sale or financing in a timely manner to generate a consistent flow of revenue. While our sales volume is impacted