Housing for me might as well not exist.

[Divinemights]

If you are new, please just wait for next house ward release as it is already scheduled.
This is the tip from someone who have obtained 2 houses from two ward release.

1. Never go for your dream plot, this will be dumpiest decision as your "dream plot" is most likely also someone else's dream plot. Competition means less chance for you to obtain a house.
2. Plan your travelling route and get familiar with it.

If you are new player in 2020/2021 and still want to complain about "house situation", you are wasting your energy.
Harness that energy and get ready for the house ward release.

[Jojoya]

One of the things I think a lot of newer people fail to see,
Housing is NOT instanced like it is in other games.

You actually can see and interact with your neighbors.
People can see and visit your house when your offline even.

While this system comes with drawbacks like availability and price tags.
It’s infinitely better than having an instanced house that only you can see.

Now, would more housing districts help?
Possibly, but I for one, would definitely rather have full and alive neighborhoods compared to empty districts after the popularity dies down.

Housing is partially instanced. All interiors are instanced. Only the ward is not.

I can't see and interact with neighbors who are not there when I'm at my house. I've never met the player who purchased the house directly across from mine about a year ago.

Other players do get to see instanced housing. All you have to do is enable guest access, just like we already have to do for our house interiors, private chambers and apartments.

More housing districts will not help because SE will never be able to get all the hardware needed to make it possible for every player who wants a house in a ward to get one. Wards are an extremely inefficient use of server hardware compared to instanced housing.

There will never be full and alive neighborhoods. It will not happen because the game does not revolve around housing. Players are out spending the bulk of their limited time online doing other content. You're dreaming a pipe dream.

Thanks for the welcome and the info.

So things weren't always this bad. Well I hope the new housing location in Ishgard makes things a bit better. The lotto, will that be a good or bad solution?

I have unlocked Ishgard but I have yet to unlock the Firmament. I'm just lvling my Dark Knight at the moment and crafting. Once I hit lvl 50 on my DK I will check it out.

Jojoya you have almost convinced me to buy an apartment, almost. xD I won't buy one right now, that would be all my gil poof gone. But perhaps when I got some more. I didn't know about all those features, I only checked out someone else's apartment and I thought it was small. I assume there is no way to increase the size?

Ishgard will help a little but unless SE is also going to increase the number of wards per housing district at the same time, it won't come close to meeting demand for house plots.

All the lottery will do is take away the placard camping while increasing the number of players trying to purchase a plot several times over (many want a house but not to the point they're willing to skip playing the rest of the game to placard camp). There will be just as many players still angry they cannot get a house.

To access the Firmament, you just need to complete the 3.3 MSQ. No crafting or gathering class is needed to enter the Firmament or do the basic side quests so you can get in and look around. YoshiP did warn us at the Announcement Showcase back in February that the player housing district in Ishgard will look similar but won't be exactly the same as the Firmament. Players will be able to enter the new housing district in 6.0 to look around but won't be able to purchase until 6.1.

There's no rush for the apartment, of course! It's something nice to have while waiting for the house. It will also let you experiment with the decorating options we have and give you a chance to practice the placement glitches we use for getting certain furnishings on lofts, etc. Certainly they're small compared to a house but there's a lot that can be accomplished in that small space if you get creative.

[Darthgummibear]

If you are new, please just wait for next house ward release as it is already scheduled.
This is the tip from someone who have obtained 2 houses from two ward release.

1. Never go for your dream plot, this will be dumpiest decision as your "dream plot" is most likely also someone else's dream plot. Competition means less chance for you to obtain a house.
2. Plan your travelling route and get familiar with it.

If you are new player in 2020/2021 and still want to complain about "house situation", you are wasting your energy.
Harness that energy and get ready for the house ward release.

Haven't they already said the next ward will be lottery-based? That's even worse.