[GoNative]

Basements would be extremely rare in Australia as well. To be honest in all my travels I've found the whole basement thing to be most prevalent in North America and not much elsewhere.
Up here in Hokkaido there are many houses with I guess you'd call them sub-basement maybe. About half underground and half out. I think it's mainly due to the concrete footings needing to be pretty substantial because of the weight of snow we get up here in winter.