The first thing to understand is that the published figures are not a range. They are different markets, different years, and above all different levels of site readiness, and averaging them produces a number that is wrong everywhere.
The numbers, with their sources attached
- About $244,000 per acre — Cushman & Wakefield's US average for 2024. Treat this as historical context, not a quote for your land.
- Up 23% year over year — Cushman & Wakefield, for parcels of 50 acres and larger.
- Over $8 million per acre — CBRE, on recent and pending transactions in Northern Virginia and the Northeast. CBRE ties this directly to the shortage of powered land, not to location prestige.
Between those poles sits essentially every parcel in the country.
What moves a parcel up the range
One variable dominates: how certain and how soon the power is.
Colliers states plainly that power availability, delivery timing and contractual certainty now drive feasibility and value. CBRE notes that greenfield sites able to receive power within 18 to 36 months are highly sought after, while sites needing new infrastructure face interconnection timelines of 24 to 48 months or more.
That difference is not a discount. It is the whole valuation.
A worked example
Consider two 100-acre parcels, drawn from an illustrative comparison published by DataCenterScope:
| Site A | Site B | |
|---|---|---|
| Land price | $1.2M/acre | $400,000/acre |
| Land cost, 100 acres | $120M | $40M |
| Enabling infrastructure | $30M | $100M |
| Timing cost (24 months) | — | $36M |
| Effective cost | $150M | $176M |
Site B's land is a third the price and the site is 17% more expensive. The $36M timing line is 24 months of delay at $1.5M per month — the cost of capital sitting idle while a substation gets built.
This is why a developer will pay what looks like an absurd premium for a parcel that can be energized quickly. They are not buying dirt. They are buying a date. The full version of this math →
What this means for your parcel
If you own land in a constrained premium market with credible near-term power, you are in a genuinely extraordinary position and you should be represented by someone who does this for a living.
If you own land in an emerging market near transmission, you are in the much larger and more common situation: your land is worth a real multiple of its agricultural value, but the number depends on diligence that has not happened yet. Expect an option agreement rather than a cash offer. What that means →
If you own land with no transmission access, the data center story does not apply to your parcel, whatever a cold-calling land agent implies. Say so to yourself early and you will save months.
The number is not the only term
Landowners anchor on price per acre. The terms that often matter more:
- Option payments — are they credited against purchase price or not?
- Option length and extensions — how long can they tie up your land, and at what cost to them?
- Diligence access — what can they do on your land, and who restores it?
- Contingencies — what lets them walk, and do you keep anything when they do?
- Timing — when does money actually arrive?
A higher headline price with a four-year free option and unlimited walk rights can be worth less than a lower price that closes in nine months. How this gets used against landowners →
Figures attributed to Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, JLL, Colliers and DataCenterScope as noted, reflecting reporting through 2026. The Site A / Site B comparison is an illustrative model, not transaction data. Nothing on this page is an appraisal or valuation of any specific parcel.