What is cheaper: demolition or core renovation?

A naive question:

I am considering buying a rundown property and then renovating it or building a new property "on top" of it.

Is that nonsense?

Can one generally make a statement about what is cheaper? Demolition or "core renovation," meaning leaving the foundations or basement standing and building new on top?

It usually comes out the same in the end...

Often a new construction measure also implies a new floor plan. In this respect, any existing walls hinder a new design and are rather an obstacle - also financially.

A friend of mine faced the same question & was forced (the property with the building was inherited & the mother-in-law insisted on renovation, not demolition!) to extensively (about €200,000) renovate an old building, now you have the old walls and the new windows, new insulation, old cellar, etc... It happens as it must, he has mold everywhere in his new old house! And he had all the work done by professional companies! If I had the choice, I would immediately tear down and rebuild

Cheers!

Thank you very much for your very informative answers for me.

That helped me a lot.

So, if I understand correctly, when you buy scrap (and thus have saved the development costs), you should tear down this scrap.

Thank you!

If a property is a wreck, then a complete renovation is of course not worthwhile. But if many things are still okay, then the renovation can be worthwhile.

A friend of mine faced the same question & was forced (the land with the property was inherited & the mother-in-law insisted on renovation, not demolition!) to extensively (about €200,000) fully renovate an old building, now you have the old walls and the new windows, new insulation, old cellar, etc... It turned out as it had to: he has mold everywhere in his new old house! And he had all the work done by professional companies! If I were faced with the choice, I would immediately tear down and rebuild

Cheers!

But if you renovate properly, there won’t be any mold in the house. Professional companies alone are not enough. Every company only proposes the solution it favors and that is easy to install. This should be coordinated in some way by someone. Then no mold should occur if the construction work is well coordinated.

We also did a full renovation and there is no mold anywhere and everything turned out well.