Digital Realty says it signed leases for 478,000 sf of space inthe third quarter, including 262,000 sf of its Turn-Key Datacenterspace at an average annual GAAP rental rate of approximately $155per sf and 171,000 sf of its Powered Base Building space at anaverage annual GAAP rental rate of $47 per sf. Another 351,000 sfof leases commenced during the third quarter, including 190,000 sfof its Turn-Key Datacenter space at an average annual GAAP rentalrate of approximately $142 per sf and 100,000 sf of its PoweredBase Building space at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $30per sf.

Digital Realty owns 12.9 million sf in 74 properties in 24markets in Europe and North America. Chief executive Michal Foustsays the results are due to continued robust leasing activity inNew York, Northern Virginia, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco inthe US, and Paris, France, which has shown particularly strongdemand over the past several months. The record leasing in the faceof the current economic environment "is indicative of the criticalnature of datacenter facilities," adds Chris Crosby, SVP of Salesand Technical Services for Digital Realty.

Despite the good news, general fear among investors about thelack of access to capital for any purpose pushed down the stockprice of Digital Realty along with the Dow Jones IndustrialAverage, Nasdaq and the S&P 500. Shares of DLR closed thetrading day at $42.69, off $3.31 (7.2%) on the day but still in themiddle of its 52-week range. The DJIA was off 3.2%, the S&P 500was off 4.0% and the Nasdaq was off 4.5%.