Teardown (real estate)

A teardown refers to a process in which a real estate company or individual buys an existing home and then demolishes and replaces it with a new one. Frequently, the new building is larger than the previous one. Reasons for developers to teardown can include increasing the appeal of the property to prospective buyers or taking advantage of rising property values.^[1] The process is especially common in older suburbs, where people wish to have larger homes, and yet do not want to move to far-out exurbs or new developments. Some argue that a common result is the gradual degradation of the historic character of the neighborhood. Others recognize the higher standards, for example energy efficiency, and size of modern homes. Moreover, not all older homes have historical/architectural value. Finally, an existing house may have no value relative to the land it sits on, such as in wealthy cities like Vancouver, British Columbia^[2] The redevelopment of Brownfield land also usually involves teardowns, but the term is often limited to residential properties.

See also

• Demolition

References

External links

Look up teardown (real estate) in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• A Simple Guide to teardowns (PDF)
• Interactive map of municipalities with mass teardown activity
• A map of U.S. states and communities with large numbers of teardowns (PDF)