I think there can be some self-selection bias involved in this assessment. Maintenance is something that some people are disinclined to attempt at all: they "co

I think there can be some self-selection bias involved in this assessment. Maintenance is something that some people are disinclined to attempt at all: they "consume" their housing, vehicles, furniture etc. instead. In essence what they demand is an IKEA house. The market will meet that demand to the extent that regulation allows it. As well, each generation of housing stock has a share of survivors that often were invested in more heavily early on, preventing small maintenance issues from developing into bigger ones. Foundation settlement is a common issue, as you point out. But for one example of what can go wrong with a whole generation, the move towards greater insulation ran into a widespread problem of toxic mold in the 2000's, caused by trapped water vapor in the structural materials. Those houses, McMansions among them, were lost, and made their owners sick. Building standards account for this now, but that kind of thing crops up with each change in practices, so I always see the first 5-10 years as a kind of proving ground: if it gets through that without turning into a nightmare it can usually go for many more decades.