To be honest, ignoring all of the financial costs it'd have and all the issues SE would need to iron out to get a system like this working..

I'd be all for it. While I am wholeheartedly on the "neighborhood" feel of the ward houses, I am aware that plenty of people just.. Don't care for it and just want a house to try out the building system, yet at the same time, adamantly refuse Apartments, even though the Apartments would give them all the space and ability they need..

Having Instanced Housing be an Optional choice (maybe cost a bit more, due to the extra server-side data, etc.) would alleviate a lot of the stresses from the housing system with.. Almost little to no change. We can but only dream, though. Since SE is locked into the neighborhood style and don't seem to want to budge.