Yeah here in the UK I’d be very reluctant to buy a new build. They tend to have terrible build quality relative to the price and often look very dull and “boxy” in my opinion.

That too, build quality took a lot of hits. Housing might become consumer goods.

In US most houses are made from wood panels and nobody expect them to out live the owner. In Europe most houses were made from bricks and concrete and people passed them to the next generation.

Wood houses last centuries in the US, just ask anyone in the northeast part of the country. They will also last much longer than "bricks and concrete" because large parts of the US are subject to strong earthquakes, which makes that type of construction dangerous and expensive. Many areas that originally had brick and masonry construction were badly damaged in earthquakes, and subsequent housing was built with other materials. On the west coast of the US, for example, there is a clear transition period in construction materials before and after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco in places as far away as Seattle once that risk was recognized. Wood and steel construction can survive strong earthquakes with minimal damage.

>In US most houses are made from wood panels and nobody expect them to out live the owner.

This is just nonsense.

I expect my house to outlive me.. a wood framed house has a 100 year life expectancy but that will be longer with maintenance. We have older homes from the 1800s too. Plenty of people buy homes from the 1920s.

I think we’re using different definitions of “old”. My mother’s house is about 250 years old, and that’s not uncommon where she lives. Her house is literally older than this country (I live in the US these days). Her house will probably last at least that again.

My house in the Bay Area is ~65 years old, it’s timber frame & stucco. When a strong wing gusts against it in a storm, you can feel the house slightly shudder. It’s not going to fall down (I’m reasonably certain, at least it hasn’t in the last 15 years and we’ve had a few storms :) and it’s not “made from wooden panels”, but in terms of solidity and construction, it’s not in the same ball-park (to use an Americanism) as my mother’s house.

Oh, and my house cost today would cost about 10x what my mother’s would…

[edit: it’s kind of wild that your username is what I used to sign into Unix systems with when I was in college. Sjg are my initials and they changed our account-names every semester for some reason]

Wild.. the definition though is that the owner outlives the house. That’s what I disagree with.

They probably meant two by fours with insulation (?) in between... I doubt anyone would expect these to outlast modern brick construction.

Wood framed houses survive many hundred of years. In fact they offer many advantages to bricks.

Yes that's true and there's a good reason for it. The hundred year old buildings are in, or close to touristic and historical areas that due to preservation laws and NIMBYISM, nothing extra is being built there and will never be built, so supply is fixed forever but demand is ever increasing. Basically they're more valuable assets than gold.

Those areas are also very close to all amenities like top public transport connections, quiet green spaces, entertainment, good doctors, top companies, good schools, lawyers so walkability is top noch, you don't even need to use public transportation, let alone own a car.

Buildings in those areas are also typically much more spacious and more solid than the current matchboxes being built.