It seems SE sees apartments as Housing

[Eraden]

The only things private houses have over apartments are the outdoor area and option to cross garden. So, yeah, apartments with outdoor areas would be a substitute.

The Shirogane Inn shows a courtyard garden. Having such a thing with 10 outdoor plots accessible by apartments would have made me not click camp for a private house.

And I think SE is regretting ever opening the wards to private housing.

I think the biggest problem that SE has is a lack of personnel that have a firm grasp on the intricacies of human nature. I've said this before and I will say it again, it's basic human instinct to want some place to call home, even if it's within a virtual environment. The moment SE opened up personal housing, it lit a fire in the hearts and minds of a good many players. A fire that can't be easily put out. A fire that won't be dimmed by the rather lackluster offering of the poor substitute that apartments currently are. And, by the way, I can think of another bit of functionality that houses have over apartments. You can have additional tenants for your house and those people can make use of the items placed in that house. I would love to have people over to my apartment and serve them meals that they can actually eat. It may be RP fluff, but then, that is a lot of what houses are about.