>would be if the work got done

the "if" is the key there. look at a neighborhood where people have gutted and rehabbed a house with private money. the sale price of such a house is roughly the cost to rehab it plus the initial purchase price (sometimes it makes a profit, sometimes it's a loss).

in neighborhoods where the sale price is below the rehab price, you see such houses either being done through a charity, or people losing money on the sale (high foreclosure rate of rehabbed houses).