• US purchases of land for future data centres reached about $6 billion in the first half of 2026, up 79% from a year earlier
  • Developers are paying more for sites with power and water, but buying land is only the first step towards building a data centre

The Fact

US land purchases for future data centres reached about $6 billion in the first half of 2026, up 79% from a year earlier, CNBC reported, citing commercial property firm Avison Young. Data centres accounted for 27% of US development sites during the period, making them the second-largest category after apartment buildings.

The most sought-after sites are those that combine size with access to power and water. CNBC cited CBRE figures showing that suitable data-centre land in parts of Northern Virginia and the Northeast cost more than $8 million an acre last year.

Those prices can transform the economics of rural land. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told CNBC that developers can offer farmers several times the agricultural value of their property. Not every landowner is willing to sell: in Pennsylvania, two farmers used a conservation easement to protect a 45-acre site after repeated purchase offers.

The Assessment

The main shift is that some rural land is no longer being valued mainly for farming or housing. It is being priced as future infrastructure, because a site close to adequate electricity, water, and network access can become the starting point for a large data-centre project.

That does not mean every expensive site will become a working facility. Buying land solves only one part of the problem. Developers still need planning approval, power delivery, water access and a route through local opposition. In many places, those constraints are harder to secure than the land itself.

For BTW readers, the $6 billion figure is best read as early-stage infrastructure spending. It shows how much capital is moving into site acquisition before a shovel goes into the ground. The more useful next measure will be how many of those sites actually progress into approved, powered construction projects.

What to watch

Watch whether land purchases continue rising in the second half of 2026 and whether prices keep climbing around power-rich locations. Rezoning decisions, conservation measures and projects that stall after site acquisition will show whether developers are finding it easier to buy land than to turn that land into buildable data-centre capacity.