I believe you'll find all the new builds will use a combination of steel and wood studs - wood studs 16" o.c. (on-center) for structural/supporting walls, steel studs 24" o.c. for non-supporting walls........at least that's been my observation from perusing TV homes under construction.
Less wood studs = cost savings to the builder. Yet it still meets code requirements, apparently. It's definitely different than what we see here in OH!
Bill
