I think that climate plays a huge role in the quality of housing. I remember visiting a few homes in California and rented one in Florida and was shocked at how little there is to a house. Then I remembered they don't have to worry about things like a tonne of snow sitting on the roof.

With winter climates you have to dig into the ground for a while and put in a real solid foundation. Proper insulation and vapor barrier and such. For our cottage we actually had to explode away about 4 ft * 1100sqft of bedrock to pour a foundation into. I wonder if without winter we'd just sit it on the bedrock.

I doubt my experience is broad enough to consider it a representative sample but that's generally what my perception has been.