The typical European brick & mortar home is much sturdier than your typical US wooden frame construction. Houses aged 100 or more years are no rarity. The US median age of 37 years or so is still relatively young on, e.g., the German market.
Interestingly, though, European wood-based construction companies (wooden houses are usually prefab here) distinguish themselves with their energy efficient wall construction techniques. A brick-and-mortar company can achieve the same level of efficiency by choosing the best available bricks but they will typically offer cheaper bricks with add-on insulation. It's definitely not the case that new wooden construction is less energy efficient - but of course that comes with a price.
> Houses aged 100 or more years are no rarity. The US median age of 37 years or so is still relatively young on, e.g., the German market.
Eh, there are plenty of old houses where people have been living for more than a couple of centuries; most of the new houses are people deciding to build new cities and suburbs in new places rather than churn on existing stock (not that there isn't some churn on existing stock).
Also, 100 years old isn't really that impressive. I've got a 100 year old house; it was build in the 1920s. Aside from a stone foundation rather than a cinderblock foundation and a few oddities (like a patch on the chimney where the kitchen stove used to vent), it's a boringly basic, familiarly modern house. It's even got original sheetrock (albeit with instructions printed on the back telling the installers how to use it).
Hell, the Empire State Building is almost 100 years old.
The typical European brick & mortar home is much sturdier than your typical US wooden frame construction. Houses aged 100 or more years are no rarity. The US median age of 37 years or so is still relatively young on, e.g., the German market.
Interestingly, though, European wood-based construction companies (wooden houses are usually prefab here) distinguish themselves with their energy efficient wall construction techniques. A brick-and-mortar company can achieve the same level of efficiency by choosing the best available bricks but they will typically offer cheaper bricks with add-on insulation. It's definitely not the case that new wooden construction is less energy efficient - but of course that comes with a price.