The OP says "if you have room to stand up, you have room to practice handstands." I weight 190 pounds. If I start trying handstands against the wall in my apartment, how likely am I to break through the sheet rock and put a hole in my wall?
If you go through the progression they show, very, very unlikely. Especially since once you get to the using the wall part you walk up it, you don't throw your 190lbs into it. Can you lean against the wall now without going through it? Can you do a pushup against the wall without going through it? If so, you'll be fine.
If you just start out throwing your legs at the wall with no prior preparation, it will be fairly straightforward to either hurt yourself or break something nearby in the process. That's why there's a number of exercises building up to it as a progression, as outlined in the article.
Europeans are generally not aware that US houses are nothing like European ones, much as USAns are not aware of how much richer and better paid they are than Europeans. Most builders would not be aware. Why would the mass public be?
Often! I live in Somerville MA, and most of the housing units here are apartments, almost all built this way (including ours). The most common style is two or three apartments stacked vertically in a freestanding structure.
