Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., the world's largest commercial real estate broker, rose in New York trading after third-quarter earnings exceeded analysts' estimates and the company said it's considering raising capital.

The shares jumped 25 percent after the company reported profit excluding items of 27 cents a share. The average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey was 23 cents.

CB Richard Ellis lost 74 percent of its market value this year through yesterday as financial institutions worldwide racked up losses and asset writedowns of more than $690 billion. The company said it may raise either public or private capital.

``We're digesting some unbelievable body blows in the last four months,'' Chief Executive Officer Brett White said during a conference call with investors.

CB Richard Ellis rose $1.43 to $7.10 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

The broker also said Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Kay is leaving to join another publicly traded company. He declined to be more specific beyond saying his new employer is not a commercial real estate broker.

Finance Chief Leaving

There is ``no hidden reason'' for leaving, Kay said. Controller Gil Borok will replace him.

CB Richard Ellis's third-quarter net income fell to $40.4 million, or 19 cents a share, from $115 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier, the Los Angeles-based company said yesterday in a statement.

About 85 percent of domestic banks tightened lending standards on commercial and industrial loans to large and mid-size firms in the past three months, the highest since the Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Survey began in 1991, the Fed said Nov. 3.

The debt market for property is ``substantially undersupplied,'' according to 58 percent of investors cited in an Oct. 21 report by the Washington-based Urban Land Institute.

In New York City, the most expensive commercial property market in the U.S., transactions plunged 61 percent in 2008 through October, according to data from New York-based Real Capital Analytics Inc. The city is headed for its worst year since 2004, with sellers having made just 237 deals of $5 million or more, a four-year low.

U.S. sales of commercial buildings fell by 66 percent in the first half of 2008, research firm Reis Inc. said in an Oct. 3 report. The vacancy rate for office buildings nationwide rose to 13.6 percent in the third quarter, from 13.1 percent the quarter before, the biggest single-quarter jump since 2001.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sharon L. Lynch in New York at sllynch@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 7, 2008 16:53 EST