You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: During the call, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide useful information for investors.
The transcript of this conference call will also be posted on our website.
As discussed in our last earnings call, we entered 2021 with a cautious yet optimistic outlook on JLL's ability to take advantage of the expected global recovery.
We are pleased to start the year with a strong first quarter.
Our strong results were yet again driven by the continued hard work and dedication of the entire JLL team.
And I remain impressed by their ability to execute against ongoing rapidly changing and trying circumstances.
We continue to realize the benefits of our One JLL philosophy of bringing the best of JLL to our clients for all our services and products across geographies.
Turning to the market environment.
The global economy had modest growth in the first quarter, although highly concentrated in a small number of large economies.
The macroeconomic outlook has improved meaningfully as the rollout of the vaccination expands and ongoing global government stimulus programs outpace initial expectations, setting the stage for more robust growth expected in the rest of the year.
Our research indicates global office leasing activity has remained subdued, with global leasing volumes down 31% compared with Q1 2020.
EMEA showed relative resilience with a decline of 8% in the quarter, while APAC and the US saw significantly larger declines of 26% and 45%, respectively.
In comparison to the fourth quarter of 2020 which saw global leasing volumes down 43% for the quarter, it is clear that the trajectory is trending in the right direction.
Investment sales also continued to show signs of recovery, with global volumes down 13% versus the same period last year following a 21% decline in the fourth quarter and 44% in the third.
This reflects the steady improvement of liquidity and capital flows.
The signs so far lend credence to the belief that 2021 will be a year of sustained recovery and expansion as the world begins to adjust to new normal, despite certain countries continuing to witness the devastating effects of the pandemic.
We expect an acceleration of vaccination programs across the world, which should lead to increased transaction activity in the second half of the year for many geographies.
Our first quarter results build upon the momentum we closed 2020 with.
We believe these results reflect strong diversification across the business with exposure to high-growth areas like data centers, life science and industrial and JLL's increasing value proposition for clients particularly around technology and sustainability.
In local currency, consolidated revenue fell 4% to $4 billion and fee revenue declined 7% to $1.4 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA of $190 million represented an increase of 96% from the prior year, with adjusted EBITDA margin increasing 700 basis points to 13.4% in local currency driven by discrete items of approximately $50 million, ongoing cost mitigation initiatives and a better-than-expected performance in our transaction-based service lines.
Our adjusted net income totaled $109.7 million for the quarter, resulting in adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.10.
Our transaction-based service lines continued to face broad-based pressure as a result of the pandemic.
But our strong results for the quarter were buoyed by resilience amid slowly improving market conditions for Capital Markets and Leasing.
Our Property & Facility Management business also continues to demonstrate its strengths, particularly in the Americas.
Further, our Advisory, Consulting and Other service line reflected considerable growth from strong valuation results, with Asia Pacific recording substantial gains over Q1 2020.
Overall, we are encouraged by our strong first quarter results and are increasingly optimistic about the road ahead.
This quarter demonstrated the continued growth of our JLL Technologies platform, a key pillar of our strategy.
JLLT represents our ability to broaden client access to leading-edge technology and transform the real estate industry through innovation.
We will continue to expand upon our portfolio of investments, focusing on strategic investments, such as the multi-faceted Roofstock transaction and believe that the value of our portfolio will continue to yield considerable upside for JLL as demonstrated in the first quarter.
Overall, I'm encouraged with the start of the year.
First quarter top and bottom line results exceeded our expectations and demonstrated continued momentum in the pace of the recovery we saw in the latter part of 2020.
The outperformance versus our expectations was relatively broad based, both by geography and business line within real estate services and also due to several discrete items that I'll discuss in more detail later in my remarks.
Our adjusted EBITDA margin improved 700 basis points year-over-year, driven primarily by the discrete items and cost reduction measures we instituted over the past several quarters.
Given the trends in our pipeline, improving macro indicators and our view of the evolving market, we remain cautiously optimistic on the outlook for the year, particularly the second half.
However, the global economic recovery remains uneven with continued uncertainty.
We intend to use our strong financial and competitive position to invest for growth and create value for all stakeholders.
Moving to a detailed review of our operating performance.
Our overall real estate services fee revenue declined 6% in the first quarter, an improvement from the 17% decline in the fourth quarter.
This was driven by a return to growth in Asia Pacific and a moderation in the pace of decline in both EMEA and the Americas.
The real estate services adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.7%, which compares with 8.5% a year earlier.
Absent discrete items, which include $35 million of noncash valuation increases to investments by JLL Technologies and early stage prop tech companies as well as an $8 million multifamily loan loss reserve release this year and the $31 million increase to the corresponding reserve a year ago, the real estate services adjusted EBITDA margin would have been relatively flat year-over-year.
Benefits from our cost reduction actions largely offset the impact from lower transaction-based revenues and investments in growth initiatives, including JLL Technologies.
Turning to the Americas.
The fee revenue decline showed steady improvement on a sequential basis, primarily due to performance in Leasing, continued robust growth in Property & Facility Management and a return to growth in Advisory and Consulting.
While Americas Leasing saw a few large transactions pulled forward into the first quarter, our leasing platform is benefiting from diversification across asset classes, including the higher growth areas, such as industrial, life sciences and data centers.
In addition, our data-driven and experiential technology platform is leading to increased client engagements, and we believe it is a key differentiator.
Based on our leasing pipeline, client activity and our overall view of the market, we expect leasing activity to accelerate slightly more than the typical seasonality in the second half of the year, though we emphasize closing rates and timing remain highly uncertain.
The Americas office sector continues to be soft, though there are some early indications of improvement, such as an increase in property tours.
According to JLL Research, the decline in net effective rents in offices across major US cities stabilized in the first quarter, down approximately 13% since the beginning of the pandemic.
Also, after four consecutive quarters of declines, average lease terms increased, albeit slightly from 7.1 years from 6.7 years.
The Americas Capital Markets growth trajectory was slightly impacted by the pull forward of some transactions from 2021 into fourth quarter of 2020.
But we are encouraged by the underlying business fundamentals and signs of thawing in the hardest hit sectors.
The Americas industrial sector remains strong, and our multifamily debt origination and loan servicing businesses have been resilient.
Encouragingly, our Americas Capital Markets pipeline continues to build.
From a profitability standpoint, the Americas adjusted EBITDA margin increased approximately 700 basis points.
Noncash valuation increases within our JLL Technologies investments and movement in the multifamily loan loss reserve were the primary drivers of the expansion.
Our cost mitigation actions taken over the past several quarters were mostly offset by the impact from lower fee revenues in Capital Markets and Leasing.
In EMEA, fee revenue remains down year-over-year, though the rate of decline has moderated meaningfully from prior quarters, in part due to partially lapping pandemic headwinds.
Growth and valuations advisory, along with a relatively resilient leasing fee revenue, continues to be more than offset by lower activity in Project & Development Services and our U.K. mobile engineering business.
Continued robust industrial sector leasing growth was offset by softness in most other sectors, though we are encouraged by early indications of improving activity.
Material moderation in the EMEA Capital Markets rate of decline was driven by improvement in the office sector, mainly due to a few large transactions in Switzerland.
In terms of EMEA's profitability, the cost savings from actions taken over the past several quarters were more than offset by the lower fee revenue as well as a contract loss in the U.K., timing of expenses and investments in global growth initiatives, driving a decline in the adjusted EBITDA margin.
Asia Pacific generated robust double-digit fee revenue growth as activity picked up across most business lines in key markets with the region lapping pandemic headwinds.
Growth was particularly strong in Capital Markets due to the timing of several large transactions in the office, life sciences and data center sectors.
In addition, our valuations advisory business grew year-over-year.
Leasing activities are picking up in some markets, particularly in Greater China, but the pandemic resurgence continues to weigh on momentum across the region.
On a global basis, our Property & Facility Management service line continues to grow, led by new business wins and contract expansions in the Americas, including an uptick in reentry work.
Property & Facility Management has grown throughout the pandemic as corporate occupiers and investors seek our services not only for higher building management standards but also our broad view on best practices and reopening the workplace.
Our Corporate Solutions business fee revenue grew 2%.
A strong growth in the Americas was mostly offset by ongoing EMEA headwinds.
We continue to be encouraged by the secular outsourcing trend, especially as clients increasingly seek our extensive knowledge and breadth of services, including sustainability, offered under our One JLL philosophy.
Fee revenue declined 17%, primarily on lower transaction fees and the expected absence of incentive fees.
We expect the lower level of transaction activity caused by the pandemic to continue in the near term.
We continue to forecast full year 2021 incentive fees of approximately $25 million, with about 1/4 of those hitting in the second quarter.
The 8% decline in advisory fees was primarily attributable to pandemic-driven AUM valuation declines.
LaSalle's assets under management grew about $2 billion or 3% from the prior quarter to total $71 billion.
LaSalle's equity earnings reflect $13 million of noncash valuation increases in our co-investment portfolio, which compares with a $40 million decrease in estimated fair value a year earlier at the onset of the pandemic.
As discussed on our last earnings call, we allocate capital by adhering to our framework, maintaining an investment-grade balance sheet, driving future growth through organic and inorganic investments in the business and returning 20% of free cash flow to shareholders over the long term.
In the first quarter, we prioritized internal cash needs and investments in areas where clients have increasing demand, which serves to enhance the attractiveness of our products and solutions.
We did not repurchase any shares during the quarter.
Shifting now to an update on our balance sheet and cash flows.
At the end of March, reported leverage was 0.7 times, within our targeted range and seasonally up from 0.2 times at the end of December.
Our liquidity stood at $2.9 billion, with 87% available on our $2.75 billion revolving credit facility.
We recently renewed the credit facility under essentially the same terms while extending the maturity date three years to April 2026.
The renewal also included incentives linked to achieving certain sustainability goals.
Lower incentive compensation payouts from prior year performance and our ongoing focus on improving capital efficiency helped drive a nearly $100 million improvement in the free cash flow deficit compared to the prior year.
Looking ahead to the full year 2021, the pipeline and business trends I discussed paint a picture of a gradually accelerating recovery as we move through the year.
We continue to expect to operate within a 14% to 16% long-term adjusted EBITDA margin target range for the full year.
We remain confident in our ability to meet our 2025 Beyond targets.
Our investments in near-term and longer-term growth initiatives, along with our continued focus on providing a leading data-driven and technology-enabled platform, position us well to deliver for our clients and all stakeholders.
As we look ahead, the outlook for the global economy is beginning to brighten.
There's particular optimism for the second half of the year, but the recovery will be uneven and staggered across geographies.
For example, the US and UK are progressing well with their vaccination efforts, but the news out of India and Brazil is devastating.
We are taking complete steps to support our employees and their families during this difficult time.
We are also leveraging our global organization to ensure business continuity.
Overall, we see promising economic indicators as signs of pent-up demand that could benefit general economic activity.
Further, JLL Research predicts that by Labor Day, US office physical occupancy levels will top at least 50%, up significantly from the levels observed through the first quarter of approximately 15%.
We expect this year we'll see continued recovery in expansion even while the pandemic causes further ways of disruption.
Before we close, I would like to provide an update on advancements in our efforts to create value for all of our stakeholders through a continued focus on environmental sustainability practices.
Central to our stated purpose of shaping the future of real estate for a better world is our commitment to sustainability, which we believe benefits not only our clients but our communities and society as well.
Cognizant of the real estate industry's impact on the environment, we continue to play a leading role in advancing the focus on sustainability within the broader business landscape.
As a company, we successfully ensure that our goals and targets for greenhouse gas reduction, safety and diversity remain at the center of our strategic decisions.
It's integrating our long-term sustainable growth objectives throughout our business.
Regarding environmental sustainability, I would like to share a number of developments.
In signing the climate pledge, we announced our aim to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040 across all areas of our operations, including the client sites we manage globally.
We are continuing to partner with Bloomberg Green for second year to address critical issues related to climate and sustainability.
As part of our strategic partnership with World Economic Forum and a member of the CEO Alliance of Climate Leaders, we have to committed to publicly disclose performance against sustainability goals.
We conform one Broadgate as our new UK flagship office, which represents an opportunity to achieve one of the most sustainable and technologically advanced workplaces in the UK Lastly, building on Karen's comments, we further formalized our commitment to environmental sustainability as we successfully extended the maturity of our revolving credit facility, leading within our industry by integrating select incentives to the achievement of certain sustainability goals.
We will continue to proactively execute against our environmental sustainability strategic road map and raise the bar on acting as a responsible corporate citizen throughout our communities.
As we emerge into the next normal, we remain focused on our employee safety, supporting our communities and serving our clients.
Our first quarter results are a testament of the benefits of our global and scale platform.
We are emerging from this period as a stronger company with more integrated services and expertise allowing us to capitalize on new opportunities because of our continued investment in our technology and platform.
While it's clear that the post-pandemic world will look much different, we are encouraged by the fact that clients are seeking the high-quality services, meaningful insight and global connectivity and consistency that JLL is uniquely positioned to offer.
We serve our clients with best-in-class services and advise while simultaneously bolstering our strong financial position and continuing to make intelligent investments aimed at enhancing long-term value for all stakeholders.
Operator, please explain the Q&A process.

user
q1 adjusted earnings per share $2.10.

assistant