Fairly sure this is to increase population density in the area, so selling old homes for tear downs would be a net gain. The more reasonable approach to this w

Fairly sure this is to increase population density in the area, so selling old homes for tear downs would be a net gain. The more reasonable approach to this would be discounts for the primary residence, and possibly discounts for populated units, depending on if you are targeting home owners / overall population and housing cost. Quarter acre per family might make sense across the US as a whole with large swathes of empty land across the middle, but it makes no sense if you look at the average individual given the percentage of the country living in urban areas.