Dive Brief:
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Trulia and estimator UtilityScore determined how much households in single-family homes located in different parts of the country should expect to pay for utilities.
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Nationwide, the median annual cost of utilities for single-family homes is $2,715, ($1.68 per square foot). Atlanta ranked as the most expensive market for utilities at $4,353 annually ($2.31 per square foot), while El Paso, TX, was the least expensive at $1,818 annually ($1.28 per square foot).
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The report didn’t find a correlation between climate and utility costs. Instead, the primary driver of higher utility payments are rate variations among local service providers
Dive Insight:
As housing prices continue to climb, other costs related to homeownership carry greater weight when purchasing decisions are made. When considered against home values, utility costs made up a larger percentage of the overall household budget in markets with lower housing costs, as utilities are driven primarily by rates set by local service providers and not home size or value.
For example, the percentage of total housing costs spent on monthly utility payments and mortgages are considerably lower in Pittsburgh than in Oakland, CA, where an affordable housing crunch is causing home values to skyrocket. Utilities account for 26.4% of housing-related costs in the recovering Rust Belt city compared to just 7.2% in Oakland, according to Trulia.
Energy consumption is greater in some parts of the country than others, and a report from WalletHub earlier this year argued the climate does, indeed, make a difference. The website's analysts reviewed monthly energy bills in the 50 states and the District of Columbia considering electricity, natural gas, motor fuel and heating oil as primary sources of energy.
U.S. home values appreciated at the fastest rate in two years as of September, up 5.5% year over year to $189,400, according to Zillow’s September Real Estate Market Report, while inventory fell 6% during the period. Buyers can look to under-the-radar markets like El Paso, TX, and Albany, NY, where competition for housing is lowest but employment is still relatively strong, according to Realtor.com. El Paso, for example, had the least expensive utility costs in the country in Trulia's analysis and ranked the sixth-lowest by price per square foot.