You are correct that houses are built cheap and torn down, but as a note houses in the states depreciate as well, just the construction tends to be more expensi

You are correct that houses are built cheap and torn down, but as a note houses in the states depreciate as well, just the construction tends to be more expensive so most homeowners prefer to refurbish a fixer-upper rather than replace it. While culturally cherished in the states, our 100+ year old homes have tons of problems from insulation issues to lead contamination, bad electrical wiring, sometimes structural issues, and so on. We pour countless dollars into renovating and repairing over the lifespan of a property rather than into reconstructing and letting it degrade over 30-50 years. I would argue that this is better from an environmental perspective, but from a financial perspective it's not so clear.