A buyer touring South Fayette new construction this summer pulled up outside a community called Stonegate, walked a model home, fell in love with the layout, and went home to check pricing online. What she found instead was a second Stonegate, same township, same school district, built by a different company entirely, with a different base price, a different standard finish package, and a different warranty. She had not toured two model homes in one community. She had toured two communities that happen to share a name.
That is the pattern worth understanding before you compare any base price in South Fayette to the number you saw on a portal. The advertised figure, whether it is a builder's starting price, a monthly HOA fee, or a township tax rate, is almost never the number that ends up on your closing statement or your escrow bill. It is the floor. What fills in the gap between the floor and the real number is local knowledge, and in South Fayette right now that gap is unusually wide.
Two Builders, One Name
Foxlane Homes and Maronda Homes are both actively building single-family communities called Stonegate in South Fayette Township at the same time. Foxlane's Stonegate starts at $589,990 for plans beginning around 2,636 square feet, with 42-inch cabinetry, quartz countertops, nine-foot ceilings, and a 1-2-10 transferable warranty built into the standard package. Maronda's Stonegate, a separate development, starts in the low $500s and leans on a Smart Home Package and walkout basements by design rather than the same finish list.
Neither company is doing anything wrong. Community names get reused across the region more often than buyers expect, and both builders are transparent about their own pricing once you're on their own materials. The problem only shows up when a search for "Stonegate South Fayette" surfaces both, and a buyer assumes they're comparing two model homes in one place instead of two entirely different cost structures wearing the same street sign.
Hastings Isn't One Price Either
If Stonegate is a two-way split, Hastings is a full spectrum. Charter Homes & Neighborhoods built Hastings on the former Mayview State Hospital site, and the community now spans roughly 1,455 to 5,158 square feet with pricing from the low $300s to the high $900s depending on home type and phase. A recent townhome inventory listing, the T2400 plan, was priced at $424,990 for 2,161 square feet, while other listings in the same neighborhood run well past that on both ends.
Part of what makes Hastings different from a typical single-builder subdivision is that it was designed with named public spaces built in from the start: Hastings Green for community gatherings, TerraPark for kids, and a retail corner called Crossroads at Hastings where a brew pub, restaurant, veterinary clinic, and yoga studio sit within walking distance of the homes. The township's planning commission approved Phase 5 in June 2026, adding 14 single-family homes and 10 townhouse units, which means the community is still adding inventory rather than sitting fully built out.
Here's how the active new construction options in South Fayette compare on paper:
| Community | Builder | Starting price | Size range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stonegate | Foxlane Homes | $589,990 | 2,636 sq ft+ |
| Stonegate | Maronda Homes | Low $500s | Roughly 2,000 to 4,000+ sq ft |
| Hastings | Charter Homes & Neighborhoods | Low $300s to high $900s | 1,455 to 5,158 sq ft |
| Amalfi Ridge | Maronda Homes | $570,890 | 3,008 sq ft |
| Deerfield Ridge | Paragon Homes | $400,000 to $800,000 | Large home sites, cul-de-sac setting |
| Newbury / Newbury Highlands | D.R. Horton | Not publicly fixed | 1,760 to 2,398 sq ft (recent inventory) |
Read across that table and the first thing that disappears is the idea of a single "new construction price" for South Fayette. Five builders, five pricing philosophies, and in Stonegate's case, two of them sharing an address.
What the HOA Line Doesn't Tell You
Base price is only half the ongoing cost story. Deerfield Ridge, built by Paragon Homes on a single cul-de-sac road with large lots, was built specifically to avoid large monthly HOA fees, and the builder's own materials note only two lots remain. Maronda's Stonegate page lists HOA access as a standard community amenity, which tells a buyer an association exists but not what it costs. In an established South Fayette neighborhood called the Berkshires, a resale townhome has carried dues near $145 a month, useful as a benchmark but not a promise, since dues shift by section and by year.
None of this is a reason to avoid HOA communities. It is a reason to ask for the current budget and covenants before you sign anything, because "HOA included" and "no large HOA fees" are two very different sentences that both show up in South Fayette marketing right now.
The Tax Rate Everyone Quotes Is the Smallest One
South Fayette Township adopted a $20,126,474 budget for 2026 with no property tax increase, holding its municipal rate at 5.98 mills, or $598 a year for every $100,000 of assessed value. That rate is genuinely low by Allegheny County standards, and it is also the least important number on a South Fayette tax bill.
For the 2025-2026 school year, the South Fayette School District's millage sits at 27.7 mills, or $2,770 a year per $100,000 of assessed value. Allegheny County's current rate adds $643 more per $100,000. Add all three together on a $100,000 assessed home and the total comes to $4,011 a year. The school district's share of that total is just over 69 percent. The township, the entity whose flat rate gets repeated most often, accounts for roughly 15 percent. That math lines up almost exactly with what the township itself reported in its own 2025 budget breakdown, where officials pegged the split at about 68 percent school, 16 percent county, and 15 percent township.
The township rate stayed flat. The bill did not.
That is the sentence worth remembering. A seller or a builder telling you South Fayette taxes are low is not lying. They are just quoting the smallest of the three numbers that make up your actual bill, and the largest of those three answers to a different governing body entirely.
Before You Compare a Base Price to a Median
The gap between the number you're quoted and the number you'll pay closes with a short list of questions, not a longer search:
- Ask which builder is behind a specific community name, especially in Stonegate, since two builders currently share it
- Request the full standard features list in writing, not the highlights sheet, before comparing base prices across communities
- Get the current HOA budget and covenants rather than relying on a builder's description of "amenities included"
- Ask your agent or the school district directly for the current combined mill rate across township, county, and school district, since only one of those three resets on a calendar you can predict
- If a lot backs to preserved land like Hastings Woods or a future trailhead, confirm what stays preserved by covenant versus what is simply undeveloped for now
Frequently Asked Questions
Is South Fayette's property tax rate actually low? The township's own municipal rate is low relative to many Allegheny County municipalities, and it has stayed flat into the 2026 budget year. The total bill a homeowner pays is dominated by the school district's separate millage, which does roughly 69 percent of the work on a combined basis.
Does new construction in South Fayette always cost more than resale? Not automatically. Base prices across active communities range from the low $300s in parts of Hastings to well over $900,000 depending on plan and phase, and resale inventory spans a similarly wide band. The comparison only makes sense home by home, once upgrades, lot premiums, and HOA dues are added to the builder's advertised starting price.
Are all of these communities in the same school district? Yes. Stonegate, Hastings, Amalfi Ridge, Deerfield Ridge, and Newbury all fall within South Fayette Township School District, which is the same district generating the largest share of the total property tax bill described above.
Comparing communities by base price or by school rating gets a buyer part of the way there. The rest of the picture, which builder is actually behind a name, what an HOA budget really covers, and which taxing body is quietly doing most of the work on your bill, takes someone who tracks this market week to week rather than a single afternoon of research. If you're weighing new construction against resale in South Fayette, or trying to figure out what a specific community will actually cost once every line item is counted, The Burgh Luxury can walk through the current builder pricing, HOA terms, and tax picture with you directly. Let's Connect.
