Public backlash to the construction of data centers has been steadily growing in recent months, with U.S. residents increasingly concerned about environmental impacts and the water and electricity demands the facilities place on local infrastructure.

But do the data centers being built to power artificial intelligence have a direct negative impact on home values? It depends on the local market, according to recent findings from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

“There is no single data center effect. Instead, the story varies significantly depending on the local market,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a press release announcing the association’s data center impact report. “The number of data centers alone does not tell us what will happen to home values, jobs or utility costs.”

NAR found that in counties with 10 or more data centers, home values grew 95% over the past decade, compared with a 64% growth rate in counties without data centers.

But “correlation is not causation,” the Realtor association emphasized, pointing out that counties with a high concentration of data centers were already technology hubs, with highly educated residents who tend to be higher earners who can afford pricier properties.

In fact, 92% of U.S. counties have no data centers at all, and only 1% have 10 or more, with many concentrated in northern Virginia and California’s Silicon Valley.

“We do not see evidence of weaker housing markets in counties with a large data center presence,” Yun added. “But these are county-level numbers, and they can’t tell us what happens to an individual home next to a facility. That’s why local knowledge and credible data matter so much right now.”

Realtors are split on the housing market impacts of data centers, NAR found. A quarter of survey respondents reported seeing a positive impact on nearby home values, compared with 22% reporting a negative trend.

Agents painted a rosier picture on the commercial side of the market, with 50% reporting increased commercial property values and 42% noting increased demand for nearby commercial space.

But data center concerns among locals persist, the survey found, with Realtors citing particular distress among clients about energy costs and water usage.

Residential electricity rates rose 21.4% from 2020 to 2024 in counties with 10 or more data centers, according to the NAR report. That compares to a 15.7% increase in counties without data centers.