They won't be apartments, I'm not sure if the old houses are staying.. there will be some big changes but it's for the best.
Stefan just informed me, loriel, and antago the other day over NC that he doesn't want any "specific account npcs" meaning no npcs that use "if (strequals(#a,playeraccount))" stuff. Which I know a lot of the current houses have in them :/
I don't know if the current houses will change but I'm sure the player made levels will have to stop. One reason for this is because it is time consuming to have to check the level for bad npcs or too complex npcs, and now we have to check if the npcs are personal as well. Plus we want to add even more houses but the more houses that are added, the more levels we would have to change when needed.
I can't even imagine having 30 playerhouses on graal in the current condition.. I would be uploading 4 new level designs daily. It becomes a burden on the people with ftp to have to check the levels out so many times, then fix all the problems with them and move everything around and fix the warps, etc.
I can say however, since I know that the main reason people wanted playerhouses was to make money, to store their money, and to have their own level.. I will make sure to have so much nice stuff for the new development plan, that you won't really care much for the old houses
Also, if the old houses are shut down or removed, I will make sure to compensate the house owners, and of course, they will get a new house.