In article ,
Andy Hall writes:

The other way around, surely.

How can the rebuild cost exceed the cost of the existing building plus
the land?

What you pay for a house really has very little to do with
the cost of the land and the cost of building a house, and
much more to do with what the market will bear in that area
for x bedrooms, y reception rooms, and z bathrooms.

The land doesn't go away......

Rebuilding cost of an end-of-terrace 1895 house was nearly
double the market value. You couldn't just stick a modern
Barratt rabbit hutch up there if it burned down. You would
have to build a terraced property to join on and reasonably
well blend in to the rest (doesn't need to be a perfect
match), but to current building standards.

--
Andrew Gabriel