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What’s better: a brand-new home or an older home? While buyers may have preferences, costs can be a factor. Some real estate experts say selling costs are up to 30% lower for older homes compared to newer ones. But others argue that older homes can require repairs that may skew the true costs.
Whatever the preference, each market has its balance of new and older homes. Point2 Homes, an online real estate marketplace, measured the current inventory of old and new homes for sale in the nation’s largest cities to find the highest concentration of homes that are more than 50 years old compared with the cities that have the most homes for sale that were built in the past 10 years. The study defined an older home as those built no later than 1970. New homes were considered built in or after 2012.
Detroit and Baltimore have the oldest homes for sale in the country, the study finds. Ninety-two percent of homes for sale in Detroit are considered older and built prior to 1970. In Baltimore, 83% of the current housing stock for sale is at least 50 years old.
Meanwhile, newer homes abound more in the South, led by El Paso, Texas. El Paso is the only city in the study that passes the 50% mark for newer home listings.