Infrastructure Watch
Roughly $800 billion in projected global capital spending this year must find a scarce combination of power, fiber, land, water, and public consent. NAR's new report helps explain who may benefit and why the local results can differ sharply.
The Headlines
PwC estimates that annual global data-center capital spending will reach roughly $800 billion in 2026. That figure includes far more than buildings: servers, networking equipment, cooling systems, substations, and power infrastructure all share the bill.
The appetite is being driven by cloud computing and artificial intelligence, but the limiting factors are stubbornly physical. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory projects that data centers could consume as much as 11.8% of U.S. electricity by 2030. The industry can order chips quickly; new generation and transmission generally keep a more patient calendar.
A data center is often a power project wearing a real estate address.
Capital
A modern campus requires land, construction, specialized mechanical systems, computing equipment, fiber, and often major utility upgrades. Company capital-expenditure headlines and direct building costs therefore describe related, but different, pools of money.
Electricity
California data centers represented about 1,000 megawatts, or 2% of California ISO peak demand, in early 2026. The California Energy Commission projects 4,500 megawatts, or 9% of peak demand, by 2040.
Local Debate
Communities weigh investment, tax revenue, and construction work against electricity and water demand, generator emissions, noise, land use, and the risk that infrastructure costs reach ordinary utility customers.
The Benefits
Data centers provide the infrastructure behind cloud services, streaming, digital commerce, scientific computing, and AI. Building that capacity creates substantial construction activity and can add a durable source of local property and equipment-tax revenue.
The upside can be meaningful. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that Virginia's data-center industry supports 74,000 jobs and contributes $9.1 billion annually to the state economy. That industry includes data-center construction and operations as well as suppliers and related economic activity. Loudoun County, which has more data centers than any other U.S. county in NAR's report, collected more than $875 million in data-center tax revenue in one year. These are figures from areas with many operating facilities, not the expected impact of any single proposed project.
The Concerns
NAR's survey puts numbers behind the public debate. Energy costs were cited as a client concern by 61% of respondents, followed by water use at 56%, environmental contamination at 43%, and changes to the nearby landscape at 32%.
Backup generators can add emissions and testing noise. Cooling can require substantial water or electricity, depending on the system. Grid upgrades can improve capacity, but the allocation of their cost is a central policy question. Finally, construction payrolls are much larger than the permanent operating staff at many facilities.
Getting One Built
The land must support a large, secure building with dependable fiber routes, equipment yards, cooling, backup power, and access for construction and operations. A customer or credible demand plan must justify the scale.
The developer submits a large-load request and the utility studies available capacity, interconnection, substations, transmission, timing, and upgrade costs. In practice, this can be the project's decisive gate: entitled land without deliverable power is still entitled land without a data center.
Cities and counties address zoning, building permits, water, traffic, and site design. California Environmental Quality Act review may examine energy use, noise, air emissions, water demand, ecological effects, and mitigation measures.
Local air districts regulate diesel backup generators. Certain projects with 50 to 100 megawatts of thermal generation may use the California Energy Commission's Small Power Plant Exemption review; larger generation can require a state certification path.
Construction can proceed only when the site, customer, capital, utility schedule, equipment supply, and permits agree with one another. Testing the electrical, cooling, safety, and computing systems precedes full operation.
What NAR Found
NAR compared 3,222 counties and surveyed 2,357 real estate professionals, including 885 in markets with a facility operating or under development. It mapped 1,474 facilities across only 251 counties; the 10 largest clusters of data centers held 42% of the total.
Of the real estate professionals surveyed, 50% said the presence of data centers had a positive effect on nearby commercial property values. Separately, 42% said data centers increased demand for nearby commercial space. When asked which property types received more interest, 58% selected industrial property and 38% selected land. Those results fit an infrastructure project that consumes land, construction services, equipment, and utility capacity.
Residential Values
The survey was nearly even: 25% perceived a positive effect and 22% perceived a negative one. Nearly one-third were unsure. The balanced response suggests that distance, visibility, noise, construction, and neighborhood context matter more to a house than a countywide facility count.
Residential Demand
Not consistently. 19% reported higher demand and 26% reported lower demand. The survey therefore leaned modestly negative even as the strongest data-center counties recorded higher home values and faster long-term appreciation.
Electricity Rates
The relationship was not that simple. Residential rates rose 21.4% in counties with large clusters and 15.7% in counties without a facility, while counties with one or two centers rose 22.9%. The pattern is not linear, and the study does not attribute every increase to data centers.
The California Read
NAR's dataset counted 112 California facilities, including 75 in Santa Clara County. The California Energy Commission now reports more than 200 active centers statewide. The difference reflects timing and what each source defines and tracks, which is another reason facility counts should be read with care.
The Takeaway
The spending is enormous because the project is much larger than its building. The benefits are most visible in investment, tax revenue, construction, land, and commercial demand. The concerns gather around power, water, emissions, noise, and nearby residential uses.
NAR's data supports both sides of that ledger. The commercial signal is broadly positive; the residential signal is mixed. As Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of REALTORS, summarized it, "There is no single data center effect."
Source note: this page is original commentary based on the National Association of REALTORS 2026 Data Center Impact Report, HousingWire's September 9, 2026 coverage, PwC's 2026 Global Data Centre Outlook, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the California Energy Commission, the Little Hoover Commission, and the U.S. Department of Energy. NAR's member survey received 2,357 responses, including 885 from markets with a facility present or in development; its reported 95% confidence interval is +/-2.0 percentage points. County-level findings show association, not causation. Information and figures are subject to errors and omissions; readers should independently review and verify the data and all project-specific information. Hero image: Equinix SV12x in San Jose, California, via the Equinix newsroom.
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