July 7, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Contrary to what seems to have been a busy year for London's data center sector, a real estate adviser says that corporations have selected London for only 4 percent of Europe's overall data center space in the first quarter of 2008.
CB Richard Ellis (cbre.com) says the slow activity can be attributed to the uncertainty in the financial sector, leading to hazy IT budgets.
The quarter has been the lowest in the London data center market since corporations first began leasing space there in 2004.
Both banks and law firms have decided not to lease space in London, while new data center space has been occupied by about two-thirds retail and one-third technology.
"London has been significantly affected by the current financial climate due to the large number of financial services companies in the market," said Andrew Jay, head of technology practice group at CB Richard Ellis, in a statement. "Although quarter one take-up has been low, there are a number of large deals that will come to fruition in 2008 and while we will not see the same levels of take-up as last year, which was a record-breaking year, we do expect levels to exceed those of 2005 and 2006."
In fact, data center take-up in Europe has been down in general, with the total space during the quarter at 61,089 square feet - a 64 percent decrease on the previous quarter.
Frankfurt leads the rest of Europe with 61 percent of the overall uptake, with Paris following in second with 28 percent in Paris, Madrid with 4 percent and Amsterdam with 3 percent.
