All over Europe, where many are used to living in 100-year-old houses and some in 700-year-old houses, a housing boom is under way. Last week the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe reported that Europeans built a record 3.3 million dwellings last year, and saw no reason why the boom should not continue: after all. Europe's population is double what it was a century ago.
Last year, for the first time since the war, said the report, the rate of housebuilding overtook the bare needs of replacement and population growth. The fastest-building countries were Norway (10.5 units per 1,000 pop.)...