Will data centers impact housing? The picture is still fuzzy 

America seems to have become engrossed in conversations about data centers this year, with debates ratcheting up ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Advocates focus on the money-making potential of artificial intelligence and the economic benefits of the warehouse construction boom. Naysayers are concerned about the environmental costs of data center expansion and the potential loss of jobs due to AI.

But when it comes to the residential real estate market, data centers have no clear singular impact — at least not yet, according to a new report released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.

Local impacts vary: Like most factors in real estate, data center impacts can vary widely from one neighborhood to the next, NAR's report found.

"There is no single data center effect," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. "The number of data centers alone does not tell us what will happen to home values, jobs or utility costs."

Data centers tend to be concentrated in just a few markets across the country, with 92% of U.S. counties still without any while only 1% contain 10 or more. The area with the highest concentration is northern Virginia, NAR said, where Loudoun and Prince William counties contain about 19% of the country's mapped data centers. Silicon Valley and central Ohio contain about 5% each, while Phoenix and central Washington each have about 4%.

"We do not see evidence of weaker housing markets in counties with a large data center presence," Yun added, though he noted that the report includes county-level data that "can't tell us what happens to an individual home next to a facility."

Pre-existing market factors to keep in mind: Counties with higher concentrations of data centers tend to have higher home values, higher median income levels and stronger long-term job growth, NAR's report said. For example, the median home value in counties with 10 data centers or more is $431,750 — a 95% increase over the past decade — while the median home value in counties without any is $174,500, or 64% higher than 10 years ago.

But that doesn't mean that data centers are responsible for those increases. Many areas with a high concentration were already experiencing higher home values, higher incomes and stronger long-term job growth before data centers moved in, the report said, adding, "correlation is not causation."

Perceptions about market impacts: Only about 38% of the 2,357 Realtors who participated in the report's corresponding survey conducted in May said data centers already exist or are already in development in their area. About a quarter of respondents said they're seeing a positive effect of data centers on home values, while 22% reported negative impacts.

On the commercial side of the industry, half of all respondents said data centers in their market have led to increased commercial property values, and 42% said data centers have increased demand for commercial spaces. Private nonresidential construction spending growth in July was up 0.4% on a monthly basis, according to Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), a figure that ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said was "entirely due to data centers."

Consumers still wary: Many NAR survey respondents noted that clients are often concerned about the anticipated impacts of data centers on their local market. Energy costs topped the list of concerns, with 61% of respondents reporting this consumer worry, followed by water use (56%), environmental contamination (43%) and the impact on the local landscape (32%).

While energy and water costs have increased nationwide, there is a basis for these client concerns. In counties that had at least 10 data centers, residential electricity rates increased 21.4% from 2020 to 2024, according to NAR's report, while counties with no data centers saw a rise of 15.7% in the same period.

Overall, the most common response to questions regarding general observations about data centers was "NIMBY," meaning "not in my backyard." Still, many acknowledge that data centers are necessary to support AI demand even as they suggest that sufficient information about the issue is lacking.

For its part, NAR has not yet taken an "official policy position" on data centers. The association said it will continue to assess how it impacts housing, commercial real estate, infrastructure and local communities moving forward.