Although I know the devs won't do this, I have an idea for what I think is a good compromise solution. The houses in the wards would be FC only houses, keeping the neighborhoods the devs are so invested in alive, then either revamp apartments to have the same amount of rooms with a 'backyard' accessible through a door in the apartment, or have 1 plot of each size per ward that was an 'instanced' house of that size for personal houses. Either option would actually make wards feel fuller, because there wouldn't be as much need for the sheer number of wards needed for as many people who want to have houses. An 'outside yard' is a necessity since so many people want houses to be able to crossgrow the different special items needed for things.

Either of the instanced housing options would also remove complaints about how someone's neighbor decorated their yard or used a housing shell they don't like. People could still visit the instanced houses, just like they can an FC room or apartment.