I don't know what this has to do with any part of the actual discussion we're having, so I'm not going to bother engaging it. The houses most people in my neighborhood --- actually, in Chicago in general --- seem to live in will last longer than their lifetime, so the "disposability" of our houses isn't a factor in housing costs.
Perhaps in Chicago itself. But Chicago metro consists of suburbs that, yes, are chock-full of the disposable houses you think are atypical for American construction.
I used to have a house built in the late 60's, in Bloomington IN. By no means was it atypical. It was a ranch on a slab, 2x4 stud construction, drywall inside, and Godawful cheap paperboard siding. The windows were aluminum frames and had what I can only assume was a negative R value.
In Europe, people just don't build that way. Well, out in the boondocks, people might build a shack like that - but not in actual cities. Certainly not in a city the size of Bloomington. It's not a stereotype that Americans live in disposable houses, you see: it's just reality.
What is has to do with is: a house that costs e.g. $200k in the US is almost certainly more expensive than a $200k house in Germany because the German house is almost certainly better built (which costs more money, is worth more as materials, costs less to maintain, etc.).
