In the UK, most flats have their own washing machine. Renters, in particular, end up with cheap, underpowered machines because there’s no incentive for a landlord to install a good one.
In the US—at least in the buildings I’ve stayed in—they usually have communal washer / dryers. Their laundry setups are powerful, fast, and do the job well.
This post isn’t about the nuances of UK and US washer / dryer combos though, but rather the trade-offs we encounter when optimising at different levels across different systems.
Unless everyone is using their “machine” all the time, it doesn’t make sense for people to have their own. The cumulative upfront and ongoing maintenance cost ends up being more than fewer, better machines used at a greater level of efficiency.