'Scrapes' Bring Bigger Homes to Neighborhoods

Raleigh, N.C. — A new report takes a closer look at the replacement of older Raleigh homes with large new ones.

The study, done for the city, determined that in the past five years, 588 single-family homes have been torn down to make way for larger houses.

Of those new homes, about 48 percent were more than 4,000 square feet.

The city says it is hiring a new planner to look at the trend. The city will gather more data after that.

The practice of taking down urban residences to get open lots for larger homes is known in the develoment business as "scraping." It begins to happen in cities once the price of land gets high enough to justify the demolition costs.