Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Newmark has operating leases for real estate and equipment. These leases have remaining lease terms ranging from

one to twelve years, some of which include options to extend the leases in one to ten years increments. Renewal periods are included in the lease term only when renewal is reasonably certain, which is a high threshold and requires management to apply judgment to determine the appropriate lease term. Certain leases also include periods covered by an option to terminate the lease if Newmark is reasonably certain not to exercise the termination option. The Company measures its lease payments by including fixed rental payments and, where relevant, variable rental payments tied to an index, such as the Consumer Price Index. Payments for leases in place before the date of adoption of ASC 842, Leases were determined based on previous leases guidance. The Company recognizes lease expense for its operating leases on a straight-line basis over the lease term and variable lease expense not included in the lease payment measurement is recognized as incurred. All leases were classified as operating leases as of December 31, 2023 and 2022.

Pursuant to the accounting policy election, leases with an initial term of twelve months or less are not recognized on the balance sheet. The short-term lease expense over the period reasonably reflects the Company’s short-term lease commitments.

ASC 842, Leases requires the Company to make certain assumptions and judgments in applying the guidance, including determining whether an arrangement includes a lease, determining the term of a lease when the contract has renewal or cancellation provisions, and determining the discount rate.

The Company determines whether an arrangement is a lease or includes a lease at the contract inception by evaluating whether the contract conveys the right to control the use of an identified asset for a period of time in exchange for consideration. If the Company has the right to obtain substantially all of the economic benefits from, and can direct the use of, the identified asset for a period of time, the Company accounts for the identified asset as a lease. The Company has elected the practical expedient to not separate lease and non-lease components for all leases other than real estate leases. The primary non-lease component that is combined with a lease component represents operating expenses such as utilities, maintenance or management fees.

As the rate implicit in the lease is not usually available, the Company used an incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the adoption date of the new ASC 842, Leases standard in determining the present value of lease payments for existing leases. The Company has elected to use a portfolio approach for the incremental borrowing rate, applying corporate bond rates to the leases. The Company calculated the appropriate rates with reference to the lease term and lease currency. The Company uses information available at the lease commencement date to determine the discount rate for any new leases.

Total lease liability as of December 31, 2023 was $705.1 million. Of the total amount, $172.7 million of lease liability was within our flexible workspace business whereby the liability was in consolidated SPVs with only $36.6 million of guarantees and/or letters of credit with exposure to Newmark. In addition, Newmark has contracted future customer revenues and sub-lease income as of December 31, 2023 amounting to approximately $179.3 million.

Total lease liability as of December 31, 2022 was $723.9 million. Of the total amount, $188.0 million of lease liability was within our flexible workspace business whereby the liability was in consolidated SPVs with only $36.5 million of guarantees and/or letters of credit with exposure to Newmark. In addition, Newmark has contracted future customer revenues and sub-lease income as of December 31, 2022 amounting to approximately $183.7 million.

Operating lease costs were $132.5 million, $119.7 million and $75.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and are included in “Operating, administrative and other” on the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. Operating cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, included payments of $122.3 million, $106.8 million and $81.7 million for operating lease liabilities, respectively. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, Newmark did not have any leases that have not yet commenced but that create significant rights and obligations. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, Newmark had short-term lease expense of $1.0 million, $0.7 million and $1.1 million, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, Newmark had sublease income of $2.8 million, $1.5 million and $0.6 million, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, Newmark recorded lease impairment charges of $7.6 million, $14.4 million and $0.0 million, respectively.

The weighted-average discount rate as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 was 4.87% and 4.61%, respectively, and the remaining weighted-average lease term was 6.5 years and 7.0 years, respectively.

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, Newmark had operating lease Right-of-use assets of $596.4 million and $638.6 million, respectively, and operating lease Right-of-use liabilities of $107.1 million and $96.9 million, respectively, recorded in “Accounts payable, and accrued expenses and other liabilities” and $598.0 million and $627.1 million, respectively, recorded in “Right-of-use liabilities,” on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

Rent expense, including the operating lease costs above, for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, was $162.5 million, $146.8 million and $105.2 million, respectively. Rent expense is included in “Operating, administrative and other” on the accompanying consolidated statements of operations.

Newmark is obligated for minimum rental payments under various non-cancelable operating leases, principally for office space, expiring at various dates through 2035. Certain of these leases contain escalation clauses that require payment of additional rent to the extent of increases in certain operating or other costs.

Minimum lease payments under these arrangements, net of payments to be received under a sublease, were as follows (in thousands):



	December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
2024	$	135,208	$	125,633
2025	135,289		127,996
2026	129,261		126,234
2027	119,092		121,596
2028	105,869		110,997
Thereafter	205,270		242,185
Total lease payments	$	829,989	$	854,641
Less: Interest	135,073		141,792
Present value of lease liability	$	694,916	$	712,849