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Markets · Data centers
Northern Virginia industrial land: data center, port and air-cargo demand
Northern Virginia holds 4,496.5 MW of data center inventory, the largest of any market globally, and 0.2% vacancy leaves only 10.8 MW of available supply. Data as of Q2 2026. Median data center land trades at $2.8 million per acre, and Starwood paid about $4.0 million per acre in Chantilly in March 2026.
Key takeaways
- Data center vacancy is 0.2% and only 10.8 MW of supply remains available (Q2 2026).
- 2,420.2 MW is under construction, up 16.5%, against 4,496.5 MW of standing inventory (Q2 2026).
- Net absorption of 467.6 MW led all primary markets (Q2 2026).
- Starwood paid $166.8 million for 42 acres in Chantilly on 24 March 2026, about $4.0 million per acre.
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
Northern Virginia in numbers
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Data center vacancy | 0.2% | Q2 2026 |
| Data center inventory | 4,496.5 MW | Q2 2026 |
| Available supply | 10.8 MW | Q2 2026 |
| Under construction | 2,420.2 MW, up 16.5% | Q2 2026 |
| Net absorption | 467.6 MW | Q2 2026 |
| Asking rent, 10-plus MW | $160 to $185 per kW per month | Q2 2026 |
| Asking rent, 250 to 500 kW | $190 to $235 per kW per month | Q2 2026 |
| Median data center land | $2.8 million per acre | 2026 year to date |
| Benchmark trade | $166.8 million for 42 acres, about $4.0 million per acre | 24 March 2026 |
What buyers are paying for here
This is the market where the substation premium is least visible, because almost nothing without a substation relationship is being brought to market at all. The half-mile substation premium of roughly 2x still applies, but the comparison set is narrow: sites two to five miles from a substation in Loudoun and Prince William are increasingly being underwritten on their queue position rather than their distance.
Transmission voltage carries the same roughly 2.4x premium here as elsewhere, and 230kV or 500kV service is close to a requirement rather than an upgrade. A parcel served only at 138kV and below is priced as a future site, not a 2027 delivery.
The small-infill-versus-greenfield spread is the pricing story. At a $2.8 million per acre median, and at about $4.0 million per acre for the 42-acre Chantilly trade in March 2026, this market sits at the extreme small-infill end of the national range. An owner of 20 to 60 contiguous acres inside the established corridor is holding the scarcest product type in the country.
Apply the published substation-distance and service-voltage premiums to a parcel in Northern Virginia with the powered land premium calculator.
What is under construction within 100 miles
2,420.2 MW is under construction across the market as of Q2 2026, up 16.5% year on year. That pipeline is the single largest concentration of active data center construction in the United States after Atlanta's 2,882 MW.
Against 4,496.5 MW of standing inventory, the pipeline represents more than half of the built market being rebuilt at once, which is why 467.6 MW of net absorption in the period still left only 10.8 MW available.
Individual project-level starts within 100 miles beyond the aggregate under-construction figure are not publicly available in the sources behind this page, and we do not name projects we cannot cite.
The constraint
The State Corporation Commission's order of 5 August 2026 created a GS-5 large-load rate class carrying an 85% transmission demand rate.
That order shifts transmission cost directly onto data centers rather than spreading it across the ratepayer base. It changes the operating pro forma for every prospective tenant in the market, and therefore changes what a buyer will pay for land whose service depends on new transmission rather than existing capacity.
For a landowner, the practical effect is that the question moved from whether power can reach the site to who pays for the wire. A parcel that can be served from existing transmission is now worth materially more than an otherwise identical parcel that triggers a GS-5 transmission build.
Who covers Northern Virginia
Brad Cohen covers Northern Virginia for Landside Partners. Send one parcel and he will return a written read on what it is worth against the demand above, using data as of Q2 2026.
No fee. One parcel. One page. Usually back within five business days.
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
This research was produced by Landside Partners, a commercial real estate research and advisory firm working with owners of industrial land across North America on data center, seaport and air-cargo demand. To have a specific parcel assessed, contact Brad Cohen at Landside Partners.
Related research
- Markets — Index of the twelve covered metros with each market's headline figure, Q2 2026.
- Dallas-Fort Worth industrial land — Dallas-Fort Worth: Ranked the number one global primary data center market, displacing Northern Virginia. Data as of Q2 2026.
- Atlanta industrial land — Atlanta: 2,882 MW under construction, up 52.3%, the most of any market in the country. Data as of Q2 2026.
- Columbus industrial land — Columbus: 0.1% data center vacancy and the number four global primary market. Data as of Q2 2026.
- West Texas industrial land — West Texas: 2.9 GW under construction, the largest beneficiary of frontier-market migration. Data as of Q2 2026.
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