House vs. Apartment

When I wrote my TOEFL in 2000, my essay topic was whether I would like to live in a house or an apartment. Having grown up in a small apartment and exposed to big city life, at that time my preference was an apartment. Surprisingly enough after living in the US for so many years that has not changed. When I can finally think of buying my own place, I think I still want to live in an apartment. My parents live in a spacious apartment on the 6th floor, which according to my standards then was a high rise. Whenever I buy my own place, ideally I still want it to be a contemporary spacious condo in a high rise, though high rise now means at least the 20th floor. For some reason I have never understood the obsession that people have about buying a house or a bungalow as we call it back home. In a place like Mumbai, of course its a status symbol because space is so limited. But even then I feel if I had loads of money I would still buy a penthouse rather than a bungalow. In Pune I have seen people living far far away from the main city just so that they can buy their own bungalow. Even here in the US most middle-class people prefer to live in the suburbs and buy a house. Of course here they have other criteria mainly schools and crime rates which influence their decisions. But anyway they still prefer houses over condos. Somehow houses make me feel isolated and disconnected from others. Ideally I would love to live in a posh condo in a high rise and drive a mini cooper to work (don't ask me why....I am always attracted to things that I don't have and that I can't afford). Why am I writing about this? Out of nowhere? I am actually typing this sitting in a frnd's modern hotel room that's on the 20th floor!!!!