North American data-centre vacancy
Primary-market vacancy rate, %. Successive record lows.
About this data
Data-centre vacancy in North America’s primary markets fell to an all-time low of 1.9% at the end of 2024, then 1.6% in H1 2025 and 1.4% at year-end 2025 — and it kept falling while supply grew 36% year on year to 9,432 MW. Demand is outrunning a construction boom. Read this against the us-office-vacancy index: same broad asset class, same quarter, one at a record high of 21% and the other at a record low of 1.4%.
North American data-centre vacancy
Primary-market vacancy rate, %. Successive record lows.
Data table
| pct | series | checkpoint | source_ref | value_basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.9 | dc_vacancy | End 2024 | cbre-vacancy-pr | North American primary-market data-centre vacancy 1.9% at end-2024 — an all-time low at the time |
| 1.6 | dc_vacancy | H1 2025 | cbre-h1-2025 | Primary-market vacancy fell to a record-low 1.6% in H1 2025 |
| 1.4 | dc_vacancy | End 2025 | cbre-h2-2025 | Primary-market vacancy fell further to a record low 1.4% at year-end 2025 |
Methodology & sources
Last updated: Aug 14, 2026Methodology
Covers CBRE’s North American PRIMARY data-centre markets only — Northern Virginia, Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, Silicon Valley and similar. Secondary and tertiary markets are excluded, and they behave differently, so this is not a national vacancy rate. Three measures that answer different questions. VACANCY is what is available now. PRELEASING is what is spoken for before it is built. NET ABSORPTION is capacity actually taken up over a period, which is the cleanest demand signal of the three because it nets out both new supply and move-outs. The striking fact is the combination: vacancy fell to successive record lows (1.9% → 1.6% → 1.4%) WHILE supply grew 36% year on year to 9,432 MW. Demand is outrunning a construction boom, not filling slack. CAVEAT: the small dip in preleasing (79% → 74.3%) should not be read as cooling demand. It is a ratio against a much larger construction denominator, so a lower percentage can still represent more absolute preleased megawatts. Deliberate cross-reference with us-office-vacancy: 21% office vacancy at a record high against 1.4% data-centre vacancy at a record low, in the same market and the same quarter. Re-verified 2026-08-11.
Sources
- CBRE — North America Data Center Trends H2 2025 ↗ Public report
Comparisons are informative, not definitive. See each source for definitions and limits.