Canadian investors have been actively shopping abroad for data centres over the past three years. New analysis from MSCI shows that 40 per cent of outbound capital for commercial real estate flowed to that asset class during the 11 quarters from Jan. 2023 to Sept. 2025 — a dramatic upward surge from roughly 2 per cent of cross-border investment during the period from 2015 to 2022.

That occurred while office properties dwindled to just a 4 per cent quotient of Canadian expenditures on foreign commercial real estate during the Q1 2023 to Q3 2025 period, down from 26 per cent over the preceding eight years. Meanwhile, the United States continues to be the most prominent destination for outbound Canadian capital, but its dominance was more muted than usual during the first nine months of this year.

MSCI charts a roughly CAD $25.6 billion (USD $18.3 billion) outflow to the 10 top global destinations for Canadian investment during the first three quarters of 2025. About 30 per cent or CAD $8.2 billion (USD $5.8 billion) was channelled to purchase U.S.-based assets, lagging behind the 56 per cent share the U.S. has historically captured since 2007.

Approximately CAD $3.7 billion (USD $2.65 billion) worth of investment in the United Kingdom represents a slight increase over the historical norm, while CAD $3.15 billion (USD $2.25 billion) of investment in Hong Kong is a significant uptick for a region that more typically accounts for about 1 per cent of foreign property purchases. Similarly, Canadian investors purchased about CAD $2.4 billion (USD $1.7 billion) worth of Malaysian assets, equating to nearly 9 per cent of foreign expenditure over the first three quarters, but, historically, less than 1 per cent of outbound capital has flowed there.

Nevertheless, there’s little likelihood that the U.S. will lose favour to the degree that office properties have. The MSCI analysis underscores its global dominance as the home base for nearly 43 per cent of all investable assets in the global commercial real estate markets. It’s currently one of the most developed markets for the data centres Canadian investors are seeking but, beyond that, they have a long familiarity with all U.S. asset classes.

“With such a high concentration of assets, Canadian and other global investors looking to deploy capital worldwide have simply needed to continue targeting U.S. investments,” the analysis reasons. “The political changes in the U.S. may be troubling to these investors, but, so far, asset availability trumps the political situation.”