Have a look at the answer to this question might be of use http://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/2933/is-there-a-good-workflow-to-change-a-bunch-of-street-ends-to-turning-circles-in-potlatch-12 this will allow you to copy for example "building, house" if after drawing a load of outlines, so may save a bit of typing. there is some advice about drawing buildings in the wiki which is worth a read, but you are right being able to paste a load of identical shapes would be useful tool. If you have a row of houses on same line draw two lines as a guide just outside buildings then single nodes for end walls then turn off bing draw them in, label one, copy with"r" then clicking on each and r with label them. not exactly what you asked but may helphelp..... following Laverock answer... Good discovery, adding to your answer I found that after creating the larger shape you can drag it away then create smaller ones of the original size shape inside it for dragging to the correct position. installing a couple temporary parallel lines may assist with size and position when building a row on houses.
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[1]: http://help.openstreetmap.org/upfiles/mass_production3.PNG
