There are some downsides, but most people on the UK would prefer houses that were 100+ years old. In the village I live in the houses immediately around me are "only" 50 years old. Most of the ones on the main street are well over 100 years old.
Housing tastes don't really change that much. Yes over the years we've had to fit things like double glazing and better insulation but that's a whole lot cheaper (and better for the environment) than building a whole new building.
> but most people on the UK would prefer houses that were 100+ years old.
Why do most people prefer older houses?
I think there might be some survivorship bias there - the house that survived 100 years in state where people still want it probably was built well, the 100 years old ones that didn't were scrapped/rebuilt
Having been around enough houses (in the US) to have a balanced opinion - I personally prefer older houses but
- older houses tend to be a lot more inefficient in their use of square footage
- the rooms inside tend to be a lot less open, and one man's "fun/quirky layout" is another man's "why do I have to go down a step then immediately go up a step to cross a hallway"
- and, I begrudgingly admit (as I don't like how they wreck house aesthetics) people really like big, attached garages
My overall suspicion is that when a lot of people say they like old houses, what they really mean is that they like buildings that look beautiful on the outside and, to a lesser extent, have a sense of being rooted in some kind of context.