(Reuters) - Real estate services provider CBRE Group's first-quarter profit beat analysts' estimates on Friday, helped by higher leasing demand at a time when commercial property sales remain under pressure from elevated interest rates.

"Leasing outperformed expectations, driven by office leasing growth globally," CBRE CEO Bob Sulentic said.

The company's global leasing revenue rose 4%, led by a 9% growth in Asia-Pacific.

"Persistent inflation kept interest rates higher than expected, which led to underperformance in our property sales transaction activity," Sulentic added.

On an adjusted basis, the Dallas-based company earned 78 cents per share, beating estimates of 68 cents, according to LSEG data.

CBRE's total quarterly revenue rose 7.1% to $7.94 billion, roughly in line with analysts' expectations.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)