That's because all that technological advancement went into making houses cheaper not better. Add to that the financialization of everything but especially hous

That's because all that technological advancement went into making houses cheaper not better. Add to that the financialization of everything but especially housing over the last half a century (things that are the same as each other are easier to price and finance), and you get a country that builds mostly cheap low-quality housing that's all the same as each other. Add to that the fact that the labor force and the construction industry in general has coalesced around the new normal (which is natural), and you have a knowledge gap too, where most people and companies in the industry only know how to build the fast, cheap, easy-to-finance way. Anything other than the fast, cheap, easy-to-finance way is now niche, and therefore even more expensive than it would otherwise be. I think that this knowledge gap is the biggest reason why even even the richest people live in what is essentially just a bigger breadbox. If those rich people were to get anything other than a big breadbox, they'd have to really know what they wanted and seek out niche professionals who can build to their exacting tastes. And some do. But most rich people are just like anyone else, and they pick their new house from what essentially amounts to a catalog, and the builders put in the catalog what they already know how to build and like building - which is fast, cheaply built, easy-to-finance, disposable housing.