How the heck can I get a damn house in this game??

[Claviusnex]

Move to a server that isn't overcrowded. I'm on Adamantoise, and there are dozens of plots available in the Goblet, and a handful in each of the other housing areas - there were even a few smalls in Shirogane when I checked last week. The apartment complex in my ward(Goblet 13) also has literally only a single apartment taken up.

FFXIV doesn't have a housing crisis, it has a population crisis specific to certain servers.

More than a handful in LB. I have 10 open plots in my ward alone and that is an increase from a few of weeks ago when I did a full census of all housing areas. Again just for my current ward nine of the plots have been available since they turned auto-demolition back on.

People are quick to blame the housing area design as the cause of not being able to purchase a personal house.

However housing originally was designed as a FC feature. They opened the housing later for personal use due to large amounts of residential areas being sparsely populated or empty because at the time buying a house was a huge thing even for an FC. Though I think part of it was most wanted the large or medium plots. When it was opened for personal use the small plots all disappeared rather quickly.

As it is now I don't think its too much about the playerbase size increase. Its an increase of players that know how to actually make gil in this game and as such can actually afford a house paired with a lack of cash sinks that players can spend gil on reducing the amount of gil in circulation.

I think you are correct on some of the causes for higher housing demand. The issue still goes back to the design not being able to handle dynamics in demand. Wards are a static implementation. This results in a large imbalance of system resources across servers with the high population not having enough housing and medium and small having an excess of housing. This will never be resolved with the existing housing system. While it is possible that the system could be made to better handle dynamic demand I suspect it would be more work than developing a parallel fully instanced system based around a common market entrance area.

The random timer was intended to hinder resellers and to even the chances of players competing to make a new purchase of a specific plot.

The problem is that as long as the relocation bypass exists, neither is really accomplished. As long as there's another plot available for direct purchase (or the buyer already owns a house), the resellers can still sell what they own to other players without the timer interfering.

Players with a lot of gil have a distinct advantage over players who have barely enough gil to purchase a plot and the estate permit since they can just buy the cheapest small available then instantly relocate. They're only hindered if there are no other plots available.

Reselling only works with FC sales now and that won't allow for the reseller to relocate so they have to play the waiting game like everyone else. Even if they do relocated reselling won't work after the variable timer as there is no way for the purchaser to be able to know when they have to be online to buy the house. For all practical purposes reselling has been killed in the personal home market.