Residential buildings in HK vs in Canada

While in HK, most residential buildings are concrete/metal + glass, in Canada, most are wooden.

My comparison is, by no means, saying one is better than the other - rather an indication of the types of materials and fitness for purpose.

HK 

• Warm and humid
• Prone to several typhoons
• Rains fairly frequently
• Close to China (hence portland cement and concrete)
• Densely populated and the main building type are high rise condos

Canada

• Cold and dry. Except Vancouver
• It's prone to snow/hail storms due to its latitude
• Canada is vast and has different weather patterns. But it rains more in Vancouver than other cities
• Close to the USA. However, growing and cultivating forest in Canada is a very good industry: hence an abundance of wood
• Sparsely populated, where there are not many high rises. Dominated by low rises and standalone houses/block of townhouses

In terms of fitness for purpose, it's clear HK needs to maximize the land usage with high rises and it's only safe and solid if it's concrete+metal+glass. Canada, there's more space and wood, whereby building houses with wood and if you ever read this older post, you will find that different types of houses exist in Canadian cities, while HK's houses are really 'horizontal' townhouses instead. 

My post mostly points to the differences because I often get asked why houses are wooden over here, when concrete and stone should be more durable and hence the de facto building material. It's all to do with the prevailing land availability and construction costs. Except Toronto which had plenty of clay to make bricks, most places had trees to build homes and wood is cheaper (because Canada clears forests and replenishes them too). Moreover, the builders' skillsets focused mostly on wood outside Toronto, making stone and concrete constructions more expensive because it was a skill that was rarer.