[lowercased]

They'd need to be so cheap that rebuilding (or maybe even repairing) are not things people would care to do. For a $40k house, in today's dollars, it might just be a risk I wouldn't care to rebuild if there's massive damage; just move away. Someone would have to take care of cleanup/removal though.

I see where you're going, and sort of think it could happen in some areas, but regulations might not permit that any time soon, even if 'pure' market conditions might call for it.

Interesting to think what this might do for the 'tiny house' market. Start zoning more places where people can put up $30k tiny houses. You might still need insurance for protection against personal injury on/in the property, but rebuild/repair wouldn't need to be a factor.

[marcosdumay]

There are ways to build flood-resistant houses... as long as the flood doesn't take too much of the ground away.

I have no idea what is the situation there, but there are also ways to preserve the ground against floods.

It's all about determining what is better, preventing the damage or abandoning the place.