I find it fascinating that despite not having the house+back yard that many Americans strive for, the Spanish are happier with their housing situations than we are. As a recently minted homeowner myself, I must say I can see the attraction of apartment living more than I could before. This house is a lot nicer and bigger than our apartment was, but damned if I'm not having to replace the sewer line, the patio, and va…
As someone who spent the majority of their early childhood (ages 3 to 9) in such a house, then lived in an apartment in a city (without an elevator on top floor), I never understood why anyone would want a house.
What do you even do with that much space? I live in a very comfortable 52m^2 (560 ft^2) studio and I don't have enough stuff to fill even half the storage space. Sure the kitchen is a bit small, and I guess the bathroom could be slightly more comfortable, but you can solve those with a bigger apartment; a house adds whole extra rooms.
Seriously, what do people do with that much room? Granted if you have a kid and a spouse you'd want something more than a studio, but my mum's apartment is about the same size as my studio and was a 2-bedroom. The three of us (mum, sis, and me) lived there for 15 years together and we were perfectly fine.
Hell even when it was four of us (dad as well) and we lived in that giant house, we only really lived on ground floor, which was essentially a 2-bedroom apartment, and the attic and basement were pretty much empty and/or filled with a bunch of junk.
From the best of my observation, houses are expensive, take up a lot of time, and largely empty/useless.