I cannot say that I disagree with you for the most part. A lot of homes are primarily built from wood or brick materials and unless it's custom built the subdivisions with that cookie cutter look to accommodate the American dream, of owning your own home. While I disagree with this sentiment, not everybody is fortunate enough to have enough money to put down to purchase a home. It seems that where years ago renting was the normal way to go, everyone wants to realize their dream of homeownership and one of the ways to do this is to make it cheaper and easier to buy a home. In Europe, I would say that renting is more normal than it but I could be off on that also. I can remember having to put 30 to 50% down on a house over there, and this was expensive because the property was high and the building cost was expensive.
I will say that my parents house was built using a sand limestone brick Masonry or perhaps people know better as concrete.
Rebar is used and spaces fill to form the foundation of walls and ceilings. The outside layer had stucco on it and then was painted. On the inside of the blocks yeah, something like Styrofoam but I'm not exactly sure what it was was used for insulation and the roofs were slate shingles. All these things were done for long-term usability and durability. That is the way I grew up and if you have your own house built, this is the way you can have it done. If you buy into a subdivision or housing area where they built the houses mostly the same way and quickly, you are going to buy into the drywall / gypsum board type of construction. I have another home over on the Oceanside and it is an 1869 Victorian home made exactly this way also. With the use of rolladens, they are cooler in the summer and by default with the insulation warmer in the winter. I know that my neighbors think I'm crazy because I have my windows open everyday. A necessary thing for me to air it all out.
How many houses are exactly as you say I would say that if you choose, you can have it built anyway you want and I agree that this is the way I like them built. The disadvantage for me is having to move around because of the job, making it a little bit harder to choose which kind of house I will end up in. But there is some control and someday I won't have to worry about working and can choose to have my house built once again oh, just the way I like it. My feelings are never hurt by the truth, but at the very least, if you choose to build in a different way, you can. As for the linoleum, I gotta Laugh out of that because I haven't seen linoleum in so many years and even though that house was okay, as you can see it would not be in my idea of anything that I would live in. But it was fun to go and see. I would have to say that you're not wrong, but we are we are comparing different populations that need to be accommodated. The u.s. is a very large country comparable to the size of all of Europe. Thank you for answering my question and as you know I am never insulted by the truth.