Some homebuyers are capable of purchasing a higher priced home - as long as it's fairly new construction that will save them money on maintenance and upkeep costs, according to research by the National Association of Home Builders. The study analyzed utility, maintenance, property tax and insurance costs based on the age of the home. For example, maintenance costs for homes built before 1960 totaled $564 per year on average, while they averaged $241 for homes built after 2008. Similarly, operating costs average nearly 5 percent of the home's value for pre 1960 properties, while they average less than 3 percent for homes built after 2008.
The study also compared the first-year after-tax cost of owning a home with the year the house was built, taking into account the purchase price, mortgage payments, annual operating costs and income tax savings, According to the data, some buyers can afford to pay up to 23 percent more for a new house and have the same first-year annual costs as if they'd bought a lesser-priced home built before 1960.
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