Based on the results of the latest 2019 American Housing Survey, the NAHB has created an analysis of operating costs per dollar value by the age of a house, presented as a proportion of a standardized monthly home operating cost.
According to the analysis, home owners can afford more expensive mortgage payments on newer homes than on older homes, based on the difference in operating costs. This ranges up to a 36% premium on a newly built home compared to a home built before 1960.
Because the annual operating costs per dollar value are higher for older homes, buyers of older homes are restricted to making smaller mortgage payments. So the price of older homes has to be lower to keep the first-year homeownership costs constant. At the extreme, a home built before 1960 can cost no more than $282,485 to keep annual homeownership costs at $30,826.
