I saw this story about a Bellevue, Washington McMansion that suffered a costly fire:

A new Enatai area ‘McMansion’ that was not yet occupied suffered more than $750,000 worth of damage during a fire early Monday morning.  The cause of the blaze is not immediately known but being investigated by authorities.  The house was not occupied yet, and no one was injured – although a Bellevue firefighter endured a big scare.

Once a home has suffered this kind of damage, is it simply cheaper to buy a new one rather than completely repair the existing home? Homes are usually built with economies of scale as builders work on multiple homes in an area and have materials and workers on hand. I’ve had this thought about cars as well: if you had to replace all of the individual parts, your costs would likely rise past the full value of the vehicle. Since the home was unoccupied (it does not note whether it was owned yet), I suspect it may just be torn down and a new home rebuilt on the spot.