CBRE’s latest North American Data Center Trends Report shows that Phoenix has the fifth-largest data center market in North America in H1 2020 and has has 8th most data centers leased in North America in H1 2020. Wholesale data centers in primary U.S. markets recorded 134.9 megawatts (MW) of net absorption in H1 2020. Phoenix saw 6.0 megawatts (MW) of net absorption for the same period.
A very healthy data center market
North American Data Center has the fifth-largest construction pipeline, behind Northern Virginia (239 MW), Montreal (55 MW), Central Washington (43.7 MW), and Atlanta (28.5 MW). Northern Virginia accounted for 69% of the 134.9 MW of total absorption among primary markets in H1.
Mark Krison, senior vice president with CBRE in Phoenix said,
“Metro Phoenix has a very healthy data center market, with growth expected over the next 48 to 60 months. Major colocation providers will continue to build in the metro because of the availability of land, fiber connectivity and clean power. Phoenix’s robust supply pipeline should drive demand from large hyperscale users.”
COVID-19 outbreak affects all sectors and essentially real estate worldwide. However, the construction of data centers kept going during this process. Data centers have their critical position during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they are supporting continued business activity.
Pat Lynch, Senior Managing Director, Data Center Solutions, CBRE, said,
“The economic slowdown will force companies to scrutinize every dollar of their IT spending, but continued investment in mission-critical IT infrastructure like data centers and cloud services will be imperative to supporting business continuity and remote working. The outperformance of data center REITs compared to other public real estate securities so far in 2020 has brought new investor interest to the sector, which will likely result in increased development activity.”