Why the housing shortage has gotten so bad

[Feronar]

As we all know, there is a serious shortage of housing in game. There are simply not enough houses to go around, and there are loads of complaints on the forums about this. However, the insufficient number of housing plots is only half the problem. The other half of the problem that is rarely mentioned is this: The prices are capped to be artificially low, at 3 to 3.75 million gil for a small plot, depending on plot grade.



The blue vertical line represents a fixed supply, 4320 plots per realm. If Square Enix were to add new wards, or an Ishgard housing district, the blue line would shift to the right, mitigating the shortage, but not solving the problem completely on high population realms.

The red line represents the demand. The higher the price, the fewer housing plots demanded. Higher population realms will shift the demand line up and to the right, shifting the equilibrium point (Where the supply and demand lines intersect) up, resulting in a higher market value.

However, the price is arbitrarily capped below the point of equilibrium, and is represented by the horizontal green line. The result is the shortage and the situation we have now with people camping placards for hours on end.

The solution to deal with the shortage and placard camping would therefore be simple: Uncap the prices, and set them dynamically based on the market value for each given realm and district. If every new plot is selling within seconds of being made available, increase the price. If there are lots of vacant plots that aren't selling, lower the price.

The result would be that, yes, houses would become more expensive, but it would be far better for players to spend time earning gil in game, rather than spend that time mindlessly clicking a placard in the hopes of actually getting a house.

[Edax]

The result would be that, yes, houses would become more expensive, but it would be far better for players to spend time earning gil in game, rather than spend that time mindlessly clicking a placard in the hopes of actually getting a house.

Better that houses be aspirational instead of being the cause of so much salt, however you already have people opposing your proposal:

I seriously wonder why you people keep pushing for the 2.0 method. That was a disgrace and encouraged buying of gil like crazy.

[Losara]

Definitely don't want to see housing based on who has the most gil. As Edax mentioned it would encourage RMT with people buying gil to purchase houses.

In the short term i'd like to see more housing and a lottery system implemented for new houses so people don't have to camp the placard to get a house. Relocation should be also only be possible if you win the lottery for that house to avoid unfairness.

Instanced housing is the only real solution in the end but most players including myself like the current system of being able to see other peoples houses in real time in a zone. Not sure if there is a way to improve server capacity somehow for housing but it should be done if possible.

In the best case scenario we'd have the current system which generates new wards as needed depending on demand (this would be great but likely impossible due to how much server processing it would need).

[Mew_FC]

This is the thread we deserve and the one we need

[MaybeOliverB]

Definitely don't want to see housing based on who has the most gil. As Edax mentioned it would encourage RMT with people buying gil to purchase houses.

Stop, just stop. RMT is used to purchase anything in this game and it really isn't exclusive to housing. There is one thing out of everything that RMT can buy that separates housing from the rest though... it's called being a gil sink. Shocking I know... purchasing a house actually removes gil from the game.

If you think RMT, could adapt to something similar to a re-introduction of the 2.1 price charts and actually keep up with the demand, you obviously couldn't be more wrong.

Housing was introduced as the pinnacle of effort and teamwork. How strange players like yourself have no other interest but to set the bar as low as possible while crying about RMT at the same time.

[Eclair_Xysha]

I was one of those people that got lucky with a house when they first launched it. It was crazy expensive. I had to s.bind items into materias and sell them off. Made enough to get my medium house and I am not letting that one go.

[Alyanna_Elingval]

I don't know if they should go back to the prices on the bottom part of the chart referenced here, but houses should definitely be more expensive. They should be in the range of the 2nd or 3rd tier on that chart. If demand is high, prices rise accordingly until demand drops. That's how it should work. You don't see them capping items on the MB, and people are fine to let supply and demand work there. If housing prices were higher the rate at which supply ran out would be more in line with the rate they are able to add new wards.

But that ship has really sailed. They made two big mistakes. Not making it one FC and one personal house per subscription from the start and dropping prices so drastically.

But I still always wonder just how big a problem it is in SE's eyes. Average sized server has 10K active players, houses for maybe a third of them, if that. So almost 7000 players without houses. How many of those players actually care about having a house. If it's only like 500 hundred, that wouldn't really be something I'm devoting huge resources to address if I'm SE. 15-20 camping a placard isn't a sound the alarm situation. Just looking at it from a business perspective. I remember when they added wards the last time. On my server, hardly any FC bought houses during the first phase of the rollout, and it took a long time to fill up the new wards even after they opened it up to individuals. So what percentage of players actually care about housing?

[GenBroadaxe]

Stop, just stop. RMT is used to purchase anything in this game and it really isn't exclusive to housing. There is one thing out of everything that RMT can buy that separates housing from the rest though... it's called being a gil sink. Shocking I know... purchasing a house actually removes gil from the game.

Out of curiosity, and I could be totally incorrect in this, would that be because RMT activity gets thrown around like a boogeyman in these conversations? I mean they're obviously a thing since they're not exactly shy about shouting in game, but if someone is smart about the market board/does turn ins/ect it isn't too difficult to make gil at a decent rate. People have to be making use of RTM services otherwise they wouldn't be popping up, but I can't imagine that it's as big an issue as some people think.

[MaybeOliverB]

Out of curiosity, and I could be totally incorrect in this, would that be because RMT activity gets thrown around like a boogeyman in these conversations? I mean they're obviously a thing since they're not exactly shy about shouting in game, but if someone is smart about the market board/does turn ins/ect it isn't too difficult to make gil at a decent rate. People have to be making use of RTM services otherwise they wouldn't be popping up, but I can't imagine that it's as big an issue as some people think.

Yes, RMT is being used as a boogeyman when all else fails in these discussions. Despite what these people claim. lower house prices actually enable RMT to thrive as barely any money gets taken out of the game. Relegating MB taxes as the only true gil sink.

If I had to guess how much gil I've acquired over the years, I think it would sit between 5 and 8 billion. I stopped keeping up with the "bleeding edge" of crafting in early HW as I thought it became a waste of time. Too many players competing with the same items so I resorted to selling unusual items or items people find too tedious to make. Making gil in this game isn't difficult or tedious, you just have to think.

As they say, knowledge is power.

~~~

That being said, you start exchanging with other wealthy players when you get to the top. The kind of players that provide social FCs with a "safer" outlet for those activities. I can guarantee you, that the bulk of those activities are for content sales or marketboard purchases. Not housing.

But ultimately, what those players do with the money they acquired does not matter. Literally everyone benefits or even contributes to RMT the moment they make a purchase on the MB. Everyone has touched "dirty money".

Meanwhile, SE tolerates players openly selling store items in exchange of gil on top of selling gil to players through store packages.

[Jojoya]

You missed one other factor leading to increased demand. There's very little else with high value for players to purchase with gil that will remove the gil from the game economy instead of just putting it into the hands of another player who will likewise then be trying to figure out how to spend that gil. Since players have no better use for it, many figure they might as well get a house even if they don't care that much about owning one. If players had other viable options for spending large amount of gil (fancy mounts and glamours as an example), they would be less likely to turn to the only current option of house ownership.

Rather than inflate the purchase price of a housing plot, it would be better to add a recurring maintenance fee to plot ownership. That turns housing from a random spur of the moment purchase into a long term investment and also creates a more effective gil sink. Does the player really want to buy a house now if they're also going to have to continue to pay 10% of the purchase price (or whatever amount) as a fee each month to continue owning it?

The real solution is still a better instanced housing system that allows every player to own a house without impacting someone else's ability to buy. The ward system can remain in place as a more competitive housing system for those looking for more.