This Old Teardown
Once a popular option for desirable communities where developable land was scarce, teardowns became a thing of the past when the market crashed and homes were suddenly both cheap and plentiful—until now.
The National Association of Home Builders estimates that approximately 7.7 percent of single-family home starts in 2015 were attributed to teardown-related construction. Thats more than 55,000 total teardowns for the year.
Teardowns are, perhaps not surprisingly, more popular in the densely-packed, older Northeast than in any other part of the country. Teardowns accounted for 15 percent of starts there, 8 percent in the Midwest, 7 percent in the South and 6 percent in the West.
The NAHB is unable to establish a trend line at this point, due to limitations in data-gathering, but the organization has anecdotally sensed that teardowns are on the rise and therefore polled its members.
| U.S. Region | Number of Homes Started |
|---|---|
| Northeast | 8,000 |
| Midwest | 8,100 |
| South | 28,600 |
| West | 10,600 |
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Source: National Association of Homebuilders |
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If youre a REALTOR® in an area with teardown potential, check out teardowns.com, a marketplace exclusively for teardown properties. Encourage buyers and sellers to have a conversation with their local municipality and familiarize themselves with the zoning regulations that might govern this type of transaction.
