Why can low level alts purchase FC housing?

[Jojoya]

I agree it's strange that FC purchase rights don't also include a requirement to at least have obtained Second Lieutenant with the character's Grand Company. On the other hand, that wouldn't be much of a barrier to the activity you're witnessing since it would only take a few days to get the rank and the character is permanently set once that happens.

There really aren't all that many restrictions that would be effective when real money is involved. One account gets locked by purchase restrictions? Switch to another account until the first account has passed the restriction period. The RMT is more than paying for the cost of license purchase and subscription. The upcoming changes in 6.1 might slow down how rapidly a single character can buy and sell plots but they won't stop it as long as there aren't enough plots to meet demand in the player community.

As for nothing being done about the individual in question, there's really nothing SE can do that would have an effective impact. They can ban the account but he'll be back in business within a week on a new account doing the exact same thing. The most they accomplish is making another $20 selling a new game license to the individual.

The only thing that would have an impact is to radically change the housing system so that such exploits can't occur, and that will never happen as long as SE chooses to stick to wards. Demand will always outstrip supply as long as there is profit to be had from a limited housing system, whether gil (via gardens and workshops) or real money (via sale of plots).

The small house you reference probably hasn't sold because we're getting close to Ishgard opening. I imagine a lot of potential RMT buyers are holding out until then since their chances of getting a small house for "free" will temporarily be very high at release. It's the medium and large houses that will continue to attract high RMT demand since those are much harder to obtain and competition for them at Ishgard's release will be fierce. Once the new supply of houses is sold out in 6.1, then you'll see a resurgence in small house RMT transactions.