Does the amount of domain registration years affect SEO

I've tried researching this topic before posting this as a thread but there is a lot of confusion between what I'm asking and another somewhat similar question. To clear things up, what I'm asking doesn't involve "domain age". By domain age I mean if I have a website with equal SEO factors to another website with same niche but the other website has an older domain than mine, then of course I know theirs will rank better.

What I'm asking here is regarding a completely new domain. Say I go to a registrar and register a domain for 5 years in advance(and pay higher for doing so) as opposed to 1 year only, will me registering that new domain for 5 years speed up my SEO success in comparison to a domain registered only for 1 year in advance or does it not make a difference? Remember , we're not talking about domain age here, we're talking about completely new domains being registered for more than one year in advance.

What is your take on this topic? Thanks

I remember reading about it being a factor in the algorithm but can't find the source with the BHW's search right now. I wouldn't count on it giving you a huge boost. Most of my domains are registered for one year at a time and they seem to rank as easily as those that are registered for several years in advance. Any difference it makes will be small.

yes it does.. but it is less significant. Google considers site with multiple years of registration as serious players than the ones with less than one year registration..

It is a small help, but big enough that I have all my local customers register for 5 years.

very interesting question
it can affect your ranking if 2 sites have same factors
but I guess you shouldn't go that way till your site starts earning
you can give it a try once you are on 2nd page
to see if it really effects or not

thank you all for your input! I will sit down and think this one through a little more, your input will help me decide better though. Maybe some testing on my own.

In addition to this... how does Google treat older, but dropped domains? Can G tell they've been dropped? In that case is it the same as registering a brand new domain?