Today we’re talking about a phenomenon that’s showing up in land markets across North America, especially in regions being marketed as “next wave” data center corridors.

There is real data center demand. No question. But there’s also a growing layer of speculative behavior that is creating noise, inflating expectations, and in some cases putting landowners at risk.

Here’s what’s happening.

A group of land speculators, often with no backing from an actual data center owner or operator, are putting large acreage under contract with the hope of reselling those contracts. They’re not buying the land to build. They’re trying to control the land long enough to flip the paper.

In hot markets, controlling the asset is sometimes more valuable than owning it, at least for a short window. If you can tie up 200 acres near transmission lines and a proposed substation, you can market the contract like you’re bringing a “site” to the table, even when you have no real end user.

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