Lumber is much more plentiful and cheaper in America than Europe. America is (generally) much warmer as well, and stick-built houses are much easier to cool because they're not relying on bricks which soak up the heat and *stay* hot. Not a big deal in England, but try that in Texas and you'll see why structural brick is rare in the USA. Tornados are also rare. They get a lot of tv coverage, but not only does brick rarely do anything to withstand them (congratulations, the wall half stayed up, the roof came off, and your house is still a flooded tear-down), it also costs far more for an extremely unlikely event.