Some bias, yes, but there are other things at work. When my house was built large beams, wide siding boards and clear wood for hardwood floors was readily available. As the supply of those materials shrank cheaper woods and the first engineered wood products showed up but they weren't particularly good. Builders were switching to aluminum windows, formica, carpeting and drywall but hadn't necessarily figured out how to build well with those materials.

Now we have higher quality engineered materials made from cheaper wood but they cost a lot more so people don't use them for mass construction.