I do not know where you live, but I can speak for Czech republic (mid Europe): basically all houses are made by layling bricks. Its not "the" small brick, it typically range 10-50 cm in depth, which is its shortest dimension. Sure, theres ytong and such, but that too is essentially a big brick. Module or wood houses are absolute minority here.
In north american, hand-laid bricks are just to expensive. It is far cheaper to build wooden forms and fill them with concrete. Bricks are then stacked as non-structural decoration on the outside of the concrete or wood walls.
