Terrible system, worst I have ever seen in a MMO and I have been playing them for 20+ yrs. Goju's idea about not being able to buy or relocate to another house for 45 days seems like a good one.
I bought my first house, a small about 2.5 yrs ago then upgraded to the medium I have now about 9 months later. I grabbed an apt along the way at first for deco storage I wasn't using then eventually made it a cute shop. One of the attractive draws to the game was housing and I remember being dismayed when I saw so few within wards the day I went to purchase. For myself, if I had not been able to purchase a house, which was advertised as part of the play package prior to my starting FF, I would not still be here to make this post.
I hope they take the housing community serious and make it a better place really soon.