The apartment could be instanced and each one is the same size so the price doesn't have to be extremely high, you don't have people bragging about how they got the huge apartment, and you're not racing to buy one only to get dissapointed that someone else got it before you did.
The apartment should look different on the inside depending on which city state you choose to live in, like they could all have balconies but in Gridania there would be a nice view of the forest(and I was also thinking about putting some bird houses with bird feed which I thought was kinda cute) whereas in Limsa you could see the ocean or whatever there is to see in Limsa. I wouldn't really know since I don't spend time there.
There could be like separate rooms, like the kitchen, living room, bedrooms, which could also be instanced if you want to live with 2+ people. In the kitchen you could buy a stove, if those are lore friendly, that can help with the cooking class.
