Why most houses in the US are built in wood?

Am from INDIA and we prefer cement over wood here for building house. Also the life span of concrete house is much more than wood houses.

Even you may achieve a greater architectural design and look with cement, which is not in the case of wood.

But the reason behind US for making wood - framed houses are :

Wood price, quality and availability :

Compared to cement, wood is cheaper.

Then it comes to quality. In United States not only forests that can be logged, but also at many places, high grade lumber species (“southern yellow pine”) are grown and harvested like other crops.

So its always economical for them to use wood with high quality and less price. Availability of wood also is not a bigger problem there.

Again making a house with wood frame is easier and saves a lot of time compared to cement house.

To tackle earthquakes :

Seismic areas, such as the West Coast of the U.S. are very prone to earthquake. During a strong earth quakes, wood-framed houses don’t typically collapse altogether like concrete houses with more heavy materials tend to.

Financial feasibility :

Most people needs loans to make a house and bank approves loan based on the feasibility of project.

But as wood framed houses uses standard woods and materials, banks easily approves loan. Again you can insured house too made up of woods.

So the advantages are always with them and hence in US people go for the wooden house, which is not only easier to build, but also pocket friendly compared to cement house.
It’s a standard in the construction industry. This means that banks are comfortable loaning on wood-framed houses, and insurance underwriters are used to writing insurance policies on wood-framed houses. Not that they don’t for other construction methods as well, but it’s easier for them to deal with wood-framed houses.