The Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Data Center Market Comparison evaluated 1,189 data centers around the world. The study lists Stockholm as one of the important 'markets to watch' and mentions Oslo and Reykjavik for it's low energy pricing, political stability, governmental incentives and favorable sustainability conditions. In another study, The Knight Frank Data Centre Advisory Group sees strong data center activity in Denmark. All in all the Nordics are on the rise.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Data Center Market Comparison
Data Centers, once an afterthought for global enterprises, are now a cornerstone of the information economy, and well over $100 billion has poured into the asset class over the past decade, according to the Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Data Center Market Comparison. The Global Market Comparison is the first data center report of its kind, openly discussing and ranking top markets for site selection and investment.
This study reveals the thought process that underpins all data center work on behalf of our clients at Cushman & Wakefield, providing a rigorous and analytical approach for maximum value. The study evaluated 1,189 data centers around the world, utilizing a unique weighted methodology to rank 48 global markets and arrive at our Overall Top Ten markets. Key emerging data center markets are also identified in the Ten Markets to Watch section.
The 2020 pandemic accelerated the change in corporate IT strategy, as companies rapidly shifted to the cloud. Continuation and optimization of this shift will continue throughout the next several years, creating further emphasis on cloud services availability and connectivity across platforms.
Construction of new product has skyrocketed, with the 1.6 GW under construction across markets studied last year swelling to 2.9 GW in this year’s edition. This is the equivalent of nearly two-and-a-half Northern Virginias being added to global supply, most of which has been spoken for.
Secondary markets continue to grow in importance, with areas particularly in Europe and Asia of interest as some workloads move to the edge. These secondary locales often provide greater margins for data center operators, with some growing to primary market status in future.
Knight Frank Data centre markets analysis (EMEA, Q3 2020)
The analysis, in partnership with DC Byte, is based on 11 countries, not including Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. Within the 11 countries, the London market was the top performing ‘Gigawatt market’ in Q3, with 52MW of take-up. This meant that total take-up in 2020 so far reached 139MW, almost double the 77MW recorded across all of 2019. Similarly, Frankfurt recorded 25MW take-up in Q3 meaning annual take-up increased to 105MW. In contrast, Amsterdam registered the lowest take-up of leading markets with no major transactions reported in Q3, albeit 21MW has sold during 2020 so far. Significantly, the moratorium on development in Amsterdam has now lifted which should initiate greater activity moving forward.
Across the lead markets, take-up in the third quarter has outstripped new supply, with 77MW of take-up and 21MW of new supply. This is a welcome development since in certain markets, especially Frankfurt, a substantial amount of speculative development activity is underway.
In Q3, the Tier-two growth markets have generally reported strong take-up. Copenhagen and Madrid recorded the highest levels of activity, with 36MW and 12MW transacted, respectively. The announcement of the second phase of Facebook’s new self-built data centre in Odense was significant, works that almost immediately follow the completion of the first phase. While Paris only reported a modest 2MW of take-up in Q3, it has been the strongest performing Growth market in 2020 with 38MW YTD take-up.
Among the emerging markets, take-up has been steady, with Moscow reporting the highest Q3 take-up of 2.4MW. The United Arab Emirates, Johannesburg and Istanbul all recorded between 1-2MW. The highest performing market in 2020 so far was Johannesburg with 14MW take-up, followed by Warsaw with 10MW, and the key German secondary markets of Berlin and Munich with 7MW take-up respectively.
Across all of the EMEA markets covered in this report, the third quarter has recorded 136MW total take-up. Around 56% of this total was in the “Gigawatt” markets of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Dublin, 37% in the second-tier markets of Madrid, Copenhagen and Paris, and 7% in the Tier 3 markets. We predict that the market share of the secondary markets will continue to increase in 2021, driven by the continued evolution of Madrid, Warsaw, Copenhagen as regional public cloud hubs, and by a resurgent Paris once again vying to re-take its place as a Lead market.
