I live in a new home for the first time.
All the mechanical equipment is brand new and high efficiency.
The roof is brand new.
The house is insulated properly. ( I paid extra to have it over done)
It has dual pane windows.
The decks and other exterior features have 100% available future use.(they are not at half life or beyond).
Seismic structural elements built in.
On purely economic concerns I think this covers the landscaping and curtains( most people are going to toss them and buy new ones anyway). This comparision is for an average house that hasn’t been modernized. Obviously an older, high quality, architecturally significant home or a well upgraded house with extreme landscape of a large property could have more value than these things.
I think the choice of neighborhood character and personality is highly variable. People choose where to live more on how they resolve this question and deal with the housing stock secondarily. Of course in some areas there is enough variety to make the new vs. resale an important question with regards to future quality of life issues and value retention, especially now.