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Study finds Webster Groves demolitions replacing smaller, lower‑priced homes with larger, higher‑priced houses
Summary
A city-funded analysis of home demolitions from 2004–2024 shows demolished houses were typically smaller and less expensive than the homes built in their place; new builds are larger and sold for multiples of the prior values, raising concerns about loss of lower‑priced housing stock.
Sam Dobson, an intern with the Webster Groves planning department and a master’s student at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, presented a data review of 278 residential demolitions in Webster Groves between 2004 and 2024 and outlined differences between demolished homes and the new construction that followed.
Dobson’s analysis found an average of about 14 demolitions per year over the two decades and about 17 demolitions per year in the most recent decade. In many cases the demolished houses were replaced by larger homes: on average the new construction was roughly 2.5 times the square footage of the demolished structure, and sale prices for replacement homes were often…
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