Press Release
CBRE Report: Core Data Centre Markets Across the Globe Race to Increase Supply as Competition Heats Up
June 26, 2025
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Widespread adoption of artificial intelligence accelerated the sector’s growth, leading to record-high leasing activity despite persistent power constraints.
Demand from hyperscalers and cloud service providers fuelled record leasing volume in the first quarter of 2025 amid widespread adoption of artificial intelligence and persistent power constraints, according to CBRE’s Global Data Centre Trends report.
Strong demand and limited availability in core markets led hyperscalers to turn to secondary markets, creating new hotspots like Richmond, Virginia, Santiago, Chile, and Mumbai, India. The global data centre vacancy rate declined by 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier to a record low 6.6% in the first quarter.
Data centre demand is diversifying as AI advances at pace and as a result, operators with available capacity in key markets are commanding premium rental rates.
In Europe, we’ve experienced rapid growth and investor interest in secondary markets which offer near-term solutions to capital deployment strategies.
CBRE’s Global Data Centre Trends Report 2025 analyses key variables in the top four data centre markets in each of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, as well as emerging markets across the globe. Those variables include total inventory, vacancy rates, net absorption, pricing and rental rates, and availability.
Europe Sees Slowdown in Inventory, Driving Record Low Vacancy
Inventory across the four largest European data centre markets – London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam – increased by 7.2% over the past year, down from the 20% increase between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024 for a number of reasons, including difficulties securing power.
The relative slowdown in new supply was acutely pronounced in Amsterdam, where none was added. Frankfurt and Paris had the biggest annual inventory growth, at 13.7% and 11.2%, respectively.
The overall vacancy rate among Europe’s top four data centre markets fell by 3.2 percentage points year-over-year in Q1 to a record-low 7.4%. Paris saw the biggest drop in vacancy across the globe, with vacancy falling year-over-year in Q1 2025 to 7.7% from 16.1%.
Limited availability of power is inhibiting growth of data centres in the largest markets across Europe. Some local markets, such as London, are expanding geographically to combat these challenges but many hyperscalers and cloud operators are having to consider alternative locations that are better equipped to deal with power constraints.
Increased Leasing Activity, Higher Rents
North America led all regions with 1,668.5 megawatts (MW) of net absorption between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, double the year-ago figure due to hyperscale expansion and new power availability across key markets. Europe followed with 300.5 MW in net absorption, the second highest in the region’s history.
Data Centre Net Absorption by Market, Q1 2024 to Q1 2025
Rental rates continued to climb across the four key European markets in Q1 due to constrained supply and increased build costs. London, Europe’s largest data centre market, had a rental rate range of $180 to $215 per kW per month for deployments of 250 – 500 kW, up from $160 to $195 a year ago. Amsterdam saw the biggest pricing increase in Europe at 18%.
The report also looks at emerging markets that have attracted large users because of their power availability, proximity to major fibre or cable networks, and new construction. In Europe, new emerging markets include Brussels and Zurich.
Read the Full Report
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CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2024 revenue). The company has more than 140,000 employees (including Turner & Townsend employees) serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE serves a diverse range of clients with an integrated suite of services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. Please visit our website at www.cbre.co.uk.