Yes, but cheaper than this. It’s true that part of this is absolutely the cost of land, but it’s not just that. Most of us are aware of the complexity of the housing market…
However, MOST people are buying a house to live in, not just as an investment in land. The fact that the home on the property is utterly destroyed (the thing most people who are investors would actually want) is the key issue here, not some abstract financial investment… 
This is, frankly, part of the reason housing costs are out of control, because some tiny sliver of the population treats it like a fucking commodity and actively seeks to drive up costs to corner the market, the rest of us be damned. They’re just fine with the homeless crisis, because they see it as an acceptable cost for them getting wealthy.
