Wholesale data center developer and provider Digital Realty Trust reported the largest amount of annual leases for 2010. It signed leases for a total of 1.2m sq ft during the year, the bulk of which was its turn-key data center product.

Digital reported signing about 520,000 sq ft of turn-key space at an average annual rate of US$172 per sq ft. The rest of the space leased out consisted of about 380,000 sq ft of powered-base building space at an average of $45 per sq ft and about 260,000 sq ft of non-technical space at an average of $22 per sq ft.

Digital CEO Michael Foust said the sales momentum that increased throughout the year resulted in record leasing performance to date in terms of both square footage and total contract value. Full-year 2010 contracts were worth $1.2bn.

"Enterprise demand is driven by the consistent growth of applications in corporate IT departments as well as growth in providers of colocation and managed services," he said.

The company commenced leases totaling more than 652,000 sq ft during the year.

More than one-third of all 2010 leases were signed in the year's fourth quarter. Digital signed leases for a total of $478,000 sq ft during the years final three months.

About 90,000 sq ft of fourth-quarter leases consisted of turn-key space, leased at an average annual rate of $184 per sq ft. Digital leased about 235,000 sq ft of powered-base building space during the quarter at an average of $39 per sq ft.

The rest was non-technical space, about 155,000 sq ft of which went at an average rate of $20 per sq ft.

Foust said the company's rental rates varied from market to market, impacting its quarterly results. This is particularly true with turn-key space.

"Markets where we saw the strongest pricing for Turn-Key Datacenter space during the year were Santa Clara and New York metro, which is reflected in our second and third quarter 2010 lease signings," he explained.