The fire service was called to the two-storey property about 4.30pm and by the time fire trucks from the Invercargill and Kingswell stations arrived, the house was well alight.
''It was fully involved when the guys got here,'' Fire and Emergency New Zealand Southland assistant area commander Deane Chalmers said.
He said no-one was caught up in the blaze and everyone was accounted for.
However, the house was ''absolutely destroyed''.
He expected the remainder of the gutted house would need to be pulled down as soon as an investigation was carried out, because it was now an unsafe structure.
As of late yesterday, Mr Chalmers was not aware of what had caused the fire.
A fire investigator was travelling from Central Otago to examine the scene before dark last night.
