Yeah. You can't sell to first time buyers, unless the guyer is gullable or willing to take a gamble I suppose.

You can still sell for transfers. I have a small plot so in theory I could pay someone to abandon a medium plot and move up. Or I could pay someone in a Shirogane plot to abandon and move out of the Goblet. (Though it works out well for me because the Goblet is my favorite housing area anyway.)

Also, free companies. Someone can still sell a free company with a plot to another person, first time housing or not.

So while you can't reliably sell plots to first time buyers anymore, cutting down on the customer pool on realms without available plots, house selling isn't gone enitrely.