Singapore's data-centre Reits post double-digit H1 2026 growth as AI and cloud demand fills capacity

The AI buildout has a new ledger entry: Singapore's three pure-play data-centre real estate investment trusts (Reits) just put H1 2026 numbers behind the demand story. Keppel DC Reit, the largest of the three, led the print with an 11.3% year-on-year rise in distributions per unit (DPU) for the six months ended 30 June 2026, supported by roughly 10% portfolio rental reversion and high occupancy across its operating assets.

The result, reported in a Business Times roundup of Singapore's listed data-centre landlords, lines up with what two of the world's largest property consultancies have been saying about global capacity. JLL's 2026 Global Data Center Outlook, as cited in that roundup, projects roughly 100 gigawatts of new data-centre capacity to be added between 2026 and 2030, nearly doubling global capacity, and a sector compound annual growth rate of 14% over the same window. Cushman & Wakefield's Asia Pacific Data Centre H1 2026 update, also cited in the Business Times piece, reports the regional market held strong growth momentum in the first half, propelled by AI workloads, cloud services, and enterprise digital transformation.

Keppel DC Reit's headline operating numbers carry the demand claim more directly than the macro forecasts. Portfolio rental reversion, the change in rent when leases renew, came in at around 10%, an unusually strong read for a sector that historically clears in the low single digits. Aggregate leverage stood at 34%, leaving meaningful debt headroom for further acquisitions or power-intensification projects. The REIT said management is evaluating power intensification, redevelopment, capital recycling, and hyperscaler-grade acquisitions as paths to keep DPU growth running. A follow-up Business Times report on Keppel DC Reit's H1 print detailed the drivers: positive rental reversions and escalations, plus higher effective interests in two Singapore assets, Keppel DC Singapore 3 and Keppel DC Singapore 4.

Keppel DC Reit's portfolio occupancy by lettable area read 92.5% at the half, down from a tighter print in the first quarter, because the Cardiff Data Centre lease expired during the period. Excluding Cardiff, occupancy would have been 95.3%, the more comparable number for anyone asking whether the portfolio is filling. The Cardiff hit is a regional color note, not a load-bearing thread: the lease ran its course, and the underlying occupancy print is still in the mid-90s.

Digital Core Reit, the second pure-play named in the roundup, held DPU stable in H1 2026 even as net property income fell, because higher distributions from associates offset the drag. The REIT also repurchased eight million units during the half. A third pure-play data-centre REIT, referenced in the sector roundup, was not captured with company-level detail in the publicly hydrated source text, though the roundup notes that all three pure-plays reported high occupancy and double-digit rental reversions for the period.

JLL's 14% CAGR and roughly 100 GW figure are forward-looking projections, not realised outcomes, and the analyst commentary in the Business Times piece is broadly bullish atop a cycle that has so far rewarded early data-centre landlords. The Cardiff lease expiry already showed up in headline occupancy, and a future print that pushes ex-Cardiff occupancy below 95% would weaken the receipt story. Aggregate leverage of 34% is comfortable today, but the REIT is also evaluating the kind of capital-intensive moves, from power upgrades to hyperscaler-grade acquisitions, that historically lift both growth and balance-sheet risk at the same time. JLL's separate 2025 data-center outlook projected global capacity to roughly double by 2026 to about 1,000 GW, a related but earlier milestone that should not be conflated with the 2026 outlook figures cited above.

The next test is whether the H2 2026 prints hold the line. Keppel DC Reit's management framed a stable DPU run as conditional on keeping reversions in the high single to low double digits and on closing at least one of the acquisition or intensification paths under evaluation. If AI capex holds in the cloud-builders' earnings, the three pure-play Singapore data-centre Reits are the cleanest listed read on whether that demand is reaching real-estate cash distributions in 2026.