People tend to like to live in the same cities as their friends, not on the other side of the world. Lacking a working communication system to keep in contact with your friends and only the occasional vacation to visit just isn't as satisfying.
And what's happening on Materia right now will certainly influence player perception on whether it's worth transferring just to get a house, especially when it means leaving their friends behind. So far, it's a mess. There's already a News topic on Lodestone regarding those FCs that just recently transferred to Materia that won't be purchase eligible when the lottery starts (oops, SE, you screwed up there). We still need to wait another couple of weeks to find out what the status is after the first lottery.
