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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2024
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
We are a party to a number of pending or threatened lawsuits arising out of, or incident to, our ordinary course of business. We believe that any losses in excess of the amounts accrued as liabilities on our consolidated financial statements are unlikely to be significant, but litigation is inherently uncertain and there is the potential for a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial statements if one or more matters are resolved in a particular period in an amount materially in excess of what we anticipated.
In January 2008, CBRE MCI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBRE Capital Markets, entered into an agreement with Fannie Mae under Fannie Mae’s Delegated Underwriting and Servicing Lender Program (DUS Program) to provide financing for multifamily housing with five or more units. Under the DUS Program, CBRE MCI originates, underwrites, closes and services loans without prior approval by Fannie Mae, and typically, is subject to sharing up to one-third of any losses on loans originated under the DUS Program. CBRE MCI has funded loans with unpaid principal balances of $43.8 billion at September 30, 2024, of which $40.4 billion is subject to such loss sharing arrangements. CBRE MCI, under its agreement with Fannie Mae, must post cash reserves or other acceptable collateral under formulas established by Fannie Mae to provide for sufficient capital in the event losses occur. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, CBRE MCI had $160 million and $140 million, respectively, of letters of credit under this reserve arrangement and had recorded a liability of approximately $61 million and $67 million, respectively, for its loan loss guarantee obligation under such arrangement. Fannie Mae’s recourse under the DUS Program is limited to the assets of CBRE MCI, which assets totaled approximately $2.4 billion (including $786 million of warehouse receivables, a substantial majority of which are pledged against warehouse lines of credit and are therefore not available to Fannie Mae) at September 30, 2024.
CBRE Capital Markets participates in Freddie Mac’s Multifamily Small Balance Loan (SBL) Program. Under the SBL program, CBRE Capital Markets has certain repurchase and loss reimbursement obligations. We could potentially be obligated to repurchase any SBL loan originated by CBRE Capital Markets that remains in default for 120 days following the forbearance period, if the default occurred during the first 12 months after origination and such loan had not been earlier securitized. In addition, CBRE Capital Markets may be responsible for a loss not to exceed 10% of the original principal amount of any SBL loan that is not securitized and goes into default after the 12-month repurchase period. CBRE Capital Markets must post a cash reserve or other acceptable collateral to provide for sufficient capital in the event the obligations are triggered. As of both September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, CBRE Capital Markets had posted a $5 million letter of credit under this reserve arrangement.
Letters of credit
We had outstanding letters of credit totaling $269 million as of September 30, 2024, excluding letters of credit for which we have outstanding liabilities already accrued on our consolidated balance sheet related to our subsidiaries’ outstanding reserves for claims under certain insurance programs as well as letters of credit related to operating leases. The CBRE Capital Markets letters of credit totaling $165 million as of September 30, 2024 referred to in the preceding paragraphs represented the majority of the $269 million outstanding letters of credit as of such date. The remaining letters of credit are primarily executed by us in the ordinary course of business and expire at the end of each of the respective agreements.
Guarantees
We had guarantees totaling $236 million as of September 30, 2024, excluding guarantees related to pension liabilities, consolidated indebtedness and other obligations for which we have outstanding liabilities already accrued on our consolidated balance sheet, and excluding guarantees related to operating leases. The $236 million primarily represents guarantees executed by us in the ordinary course of business, including various guarantees of management and vendor contracts in our operations overseas, which expire at the end of each of the respective agreements.
In addition, as of September 30, 2024, we had issued numerous non-recourse carveout, completion and budget guarantees relating to development projects for the benefit of third parties. These guarantees are commonplace in our industry and are made by us in the ordinary course of our Real Estate Investments business. Non-recourse carveout guarantees generally require that our project-entity borrower not commit specified improper acts, with us potentially liable for all or a portion of such entity’s indebtedness or other damages suffered by the lender if those acts occur. Completion and budget guarantees generally require us to complete construction of the relevant project within a specified timeframe and/or within a specified budget, with us potentially being liable for costs to complete in excess of such timeframe or budget. While there can be no assurance, we do not expect to incur any material losses under these guarantees.
Performance and payment bonds
In the ordinary course of business, we are required by certain customers to provide performance and payment bonds for contractual commitments related to our projects. These bonds provide a guarantee to the customer that the company will perform under the terms of a contract and that we will pay our subcontractors and vendors. If we fail to perform under a contract or to pay our subcontractors and vendors, the customer may demand that the surety make payments or provide services under the bond. We must reimburse the surety for expenses or outlays it incurs. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, outstanding performance and payment bonds approximated $788 million and $242 million, respectively.
Deferred and contingent consideration
The purchase price for our business acquisitions often includes deferred and contingent consideration. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, we had short-term deferred and contingent consideration of $283 million and $264 million, respectively, which was included within Accounts payable and accrued expenses, and long-term deferred and contingent consideration of $285 million and $266 million, respectively, which was included within Other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.
Indirect Taxes: U.S. Sales and Use Tax Liability
The company is subject to indirect taxation in some, but not all, of the various U.S. states and foreign jurisdictions in which it conducts business. Such taxes are collected from clients and remitted to the respective states. From time to time, we are audited by those states and may incur settlements, interest charges and penalties. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, we had reserves of $25 million and $3 million, respectively, for sales and use taxes. The net increases in accrual, recognized in the second and third quarters of 2024, related to certain ongoing state audits as well as the settlement of an audit. In accordance with FASB ASC Topic 450, “Contingencies,” the company establishes accruals for contingencies, including uncertainties related to taxes not based on income, when the company believes it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Based on the information available, the company continues to evaluate and assess the jurisdictions in which indirect tax nexus exists and will adjust its estimated liability as new information becomes available in the future.
Other
An important part of the strategy for our REI segment involves co-investing our capital in certain real estate investments with our clients. For our investment funds, we generally co-invest a minority interest of the equity in a particular fund. As of September 30, 2024, we had aggregate future commitments of $154 million related to co-investment funds. Additionally, we make selective investments in real estate development projects on our consolidated account or co-invest with our clients with up to 50% of the project’s equity as a principal in unconsolidated real estate projects. We had unfunded capital commitments of $153 million and $51 million to consolidated and unconsolidated projects, respectively, as of September 30, 2024.
Also refer to Note 15 for the Telford Fire Safety Remediation provision.