I always wondered how Americans can afford such huge houses till i found out how they build it.
It is about available land in the first place, and not so much about construction method. Just to give you an idea of population vs land...
What it would look like if 7.2bn population were dumped into Grand Canyon | Daily Mail Online
If you took all the world's population and dumped them into the Grand Canyon they wouldn't fill a fraction of it.
If every of our 7 billion human beings is allowed a 3 meters by 3 meters box, we would all fit inside continental US, or South America, or Europe, or Russia, or China, or Australia, and there would still be plenty of room leftover.
My whole property is quarter acre or roughly 1000 sq-meter. My house is 278 sq-m, 139 up and 139 down (basement). Upstairs have 3 bedrooms and two baths. Down have a 'theater' room that is also my library, one room that is my 'office' or use as another bedroom, one bath, and two large storage rooms. Not all houses in the US have basements. Depends on the water table. US state of Florida is an example of where houses with basement are very rare.
When a builder complete a house, he will leave the basement bare, as in bare walls and concrete floor because most homeowners would rather finish the basement to his preference. The homeowner would either finish customizing the basement himself, or he could hire someone to do it. For my house, the previous owner finished the basement himself and I like how he did it, so I bought it, but finished basements can make selling a house difficult because potential buyers may not like the competed layout. I have no intention of selling. In the newer subdivisions, houses and property lots are smaller, like 1/3 less than mine, but I know that is still larger than most elsewhere in the world. We in the western half of CONUS do have it good when it comes to our homes. In the mid-west and western parts of continental US, my house is average. Population density is not like the eastern side of CONUS where that part of the US is older.
I think what China did here will be closely observed by US homebuilders. The potential for energy efficient and strong homes are very high, excellent builds for apartments, even large apartments equal to my house. Am positive construction will be faster as well. Not every homeowner shops at Home Depot to modify his/her house. Many would rather buy the house and live in it as they bought it. This 3D printing construction method will be ideal for this.
