Do Data Centers Lower Home Values in Fayette County, GA?

Do Data Centers Lower Home Values in Fayette County, GA?

Right now, the broad answer is that home values in the neighborhoods closest to Fayette County’s data centers are holding steady or climbing, not falling. Loudoun County, Virginia, the market furthest along with this, has pulled in $1.1 billion in data center tax revenue over the past decade, but its own 2026 assessment showed data center property values jumping nearly 39% in a year while regular single-family homes were up only about 1%. The real risk isn’t the data center itself. It’s whether your specific lot sits under a Georgia Power transmission line easement, which is a narrower and more provable question than “how close is too close.”

By Daphne Bousquet | September 14, 2026

I hear the same argument from clients constantly. Are data centers going to lower my home value? And here’s my honest answer: anyone who tells you they know for certain is getting ahead of the data, because this hasn’t been happening here long enough for anyone to have a real track record yet.

What I can do is show you three things: what’s actually happened in markets further along than us, what’s actually happening in Fayette County right now, and what I think you should be watching. If you want the full rundown of every project in the pipeline, I already covered what the data centers themselves mean for Fayette and Coweta County in an earlier post. This one is only about what it does to your home’s value and what your house is worth.

What the Data Actually Shows So Far

Start with the market that’s furthest along: Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia. A George Mason University study looked at 2023 home sales there and found something that surprised a lot of people. Homes closer to data centers actually sold for more, not less.

Before you run with that, the researchers put their own caveat on it. Data centers get built where the roads are good, the utilities are strong, and the infrastructure already works, and those same things make a neighborhood desirable with or without a data center. It’s not that the data center made the homes worth more. It’s that data centers and desirable neighborhoods tend to show up in the same places.

Here’s the number that isn’t up for debate. Loudoun County has pulled in $1.1 billion in tax revenue from data centers, up from around $150 million a decade ago. That money now covers 38% of the county’s entire general fund, and it’s let them cut the property tax rate every single year for ten years straight, from $1.145 per $100 of assessed value down to $0.805 this year.

But look at what happened to actual home values in that same 2026 assessment. Data center property values jumped almost 39% in a single year, after jumping nearly 59% the year before that. Homes did not come close to that:

• Single-family homes with county water and sewer: up about 1%
• Homes without those utilities: up around 3.6%
• Townhomes: barely moved
• Condos: actually went down

That slowdown could just as easily be tied to interest rates and overall market conditions nationwide. But it shows you the tax base story and the home value story are not automatically the same story, even in the market that’s been doing this the longest. One Loudoun County Board of Supervisors member, Julie Briskman, put it plainly: “We have become addicted to the data centers for their tax revenues, but at what cost?” Some owners there have reportedly been offered more than $4 million for houses worth less than half that, just to get the land. Other residents have been told a 185-foot high voltage transmission tower could be built in their backyard.

That transmission line piece is important here too. Georgia Power is building a 500 kilovolt line called Project Wansley, running from a substation in Fayette County down through Coweta County to Plant Wansley. The company’s own spokesperson says close to 80% of the growth behind projects like this is the data centers.

More than 300 properties along that route are affected, some homes are being demolished outright, and the easements average 175 feet wide. Georgia Power’s initial offer is 25% over market value, but that’s a personal call on whether it’s enough to offset a high voltage line running through your yard.

Not every market tells the same story, either. In parts of Texas, million-dollar homes near proposed data centers sit unsold because buyers are worried about noise, water use, and years of construction. Meanwhile, agents in Cincinnati and parts of Florida say buyers barely blink at it. The real picture depends heavily on where you are, which is exactly why a national headline is never going to answer this question for your specific street.

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What’s Actually Happening with QTS in Fayetteville

QTS in Fayetteville is one of the projects here with a real history instead of a projection. In 2016, that land generated about $31,000 a year in property taxes. In 2024, on that same land, it generated over a million, and that number is still climbing. Only two of the thirteen buildings planned for that site are even finished, and those two buildings alone are already valued at $8 million in personal property tax. Eleven more buildings are still to come.

What nobody’s really talking about yet, I heard straight from our county manager. There are ongoing conversations at the state level in Georgia right now about pulling data center tax revenue away from counties like ours and folding it into the state budget. If that happens, Fayette County keeps the construction, the traffic, and the land use changes, but loses the tax benefit that’s supposed to be the whole upside of this. It’s not settled, and I’m watching it closely, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that could flip this entire calculation.

Over in Coweta County, several large projects are moving through different stages right now and facing legal appeals from residents. Projected annual tax revenue across those projects ranges from the tens of millions up to a reported hundred million once fully built out. If you’re weighing a move to that side of the county, it’s worth reading through how Coweta County property taxes actually break down before you set a budget.

The Question More Important Than Proximity

I had a client this year who looked at a house close to QTS. They liked layout, the price, and the location was convenient to everything they needed. But the proximity to the data center, and I mean the shuttle buses running all day moving over 5,000 construction workers in and out of that job site, took that house out of the running.

They chose a different house instead, in the same neighborhood, just set further back from the data center and that route. Same neighborhood, same general area, same overall value trend. The other house sold to someone with no such reservations, and it worked out for everyone.

When I look at my own comps in the neighborhoods closest to QTS, places like Trilith and Canoe Club, values there have continued to hold up and climb somewhat, not fall. On the surface it looks like data centers don’t lower home values. However, that comparison doesn’t include the homes that specifically back up to a Georgia Power transmission line easement, since those lines don’t actually run through neighborhoods like Canoe Club or Trilith. That’s a completely different situation in different neighborhoods entirely, so the two don’t really compare.

The homes with an easement running through the front yard or backyard are the ones most likely to see a real impact on value, separate from whatever the broader neighborhood is doing. So here’s where I actually land on it: it’s not that simple in either direction. The broad neighborhood-wide trend right now looks fine, but the real thing worth watching is a lot narrower than that. It’s whether your specific lot has a Georgia Power easement running through it or near it.

If you’re looking at a house anywhere near one of these projects, stop asking how close it is to a data center as if that’s one simple category. Ask a better question: how do transmission line easements and traffic affect this specific property and this specific neighborhood? Two houses in the same neighborhood can be a completely different decision once you ask that. That’s exactly what happened with my client.

If you already own a home near one of these projects and there’s a transmission line on your property or planned for it, you’ve probably already been notified. If there isn’t, the neighborhood-level data so far, QTS included, isn’t showing the drag a lot of people assume it will. Either way, it’s worth knowing where your county stands in its tax digest and reassessment cycle, because that’s usually where the real, provable financial impact shows up first, well before it ever shows up in a resale price.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you I have this fully figured out, because nobody does yet. My own current read, based on what I’m seeing in my own comps, is cautiously optimistic for home values. I think the tax base and the demand this brings are more likely to help values here than hurt them. But I’m watching two things closely: the transmission line question, and whether Fayette and Coweta counties actually get to keep this tax revenue instead of losing it to the state. Either one could change my answer.

If you’re thinking about a move to Fayette or Coweta County, or you already live here and want a second set of eyes on how any of this affects your own home or the house you’re considering, the South Atlanta Relocation Guide walks through exactly what to check on a property before you buy, growth corridors included. Get your free copy here, or reach out directly at talkwithdaphne.com and we’ll talk through your specific situation.

About Daphne Bousquet
Daphne Bousquet is a REALTOR® with Real Broker serving the South Atlanta suburbs of Fayette, Coweta, and Henry Counties. She specializes in helping downsizers find the perfect home for their next chapter and guiding relocation buyers through a seamless transition to the area. Whether you’re simplifying your lifestyle or planting new roots, Daphne brings local expertise and personalized service to every move.