That isn't the game encouraging greed.If there's a profit to be made , humans will try to take advantage of it.
I've never felt like I was superior to anyone because I had a virtual ingame house... I honestly think Apartments are good alternative. I'm very much in the minority of that but I think the limitations do breed creativity. I very much agree on the item limit increase. Let players build that small house within Apts.
But are you locked out of housing entirely? Or is the alternative not good enough though it offers housing on a smaller scale, everything that you can do in a plot design wise can be done in an apt.
Different layouts for apartments do sound good, However they can't be so good that they encroach on plot sizes.