The take-up of data center space in Europe during the third quarter of 2009 was greater than the total take-up in first half of the year, according to a newly published report on the European market by CB Richard Ellis.

Wholesale colocation market take-up during the quarter was about 140,800 square feet, making it the strongest quarter for the segment that year. About 55,000 square feet of retail colocation space was taken up -somewhat of a drop from the preceding three months.

As it was in the first half of the year, no company had undertaken a major "self-build" project, the analysts said, adding that the firm did not expect any such transactions to have taken place in the year's last quarter or in 2010, because of insufficient funds in end-users' purses for such large-scale projects.

There was an increase in supply in two of the five major European markets: London and Paris. Two new facilities were launched in each of the markets. The other three markets are Amsterdam, Madrid and Frankfurt.

In Frankfurt, Equinix bought the former Data 110 facility during the year's third quarter, expanding retail colocation supply in that market. "This facility represented the last of the large legacy fully-fitted Frankfurt data centers which were built in the original dotcom boom, and as such we can expect to see new-build facilities coming to market in Frankfurt over the next 12-18 months," analysts wrote.

Take-up across all five markets during the quarter was driven by the technology sector (54 percent), retail (28 percent) and corporate (18 percent).