This is a process which heavily favors those who are able to camp in front of a computer and just happen to be on line and able to pounce at just the right moment.
This process has been thoroughly screwed up by SL's management. Yes I could accept that my premium membership allows me to claim one of the old homes but by doing so, I'm out of the loop for when a very, very tiny number of one of the new ones are released so in order to have even a minuscule chance at a new one, I have to remain homeless and practically glued to my computer. That's not possible for me.
So, the major benefit of a premium membership, which is either land ownership or an included linden home isn't reasonably available. Anyone who's checked the available 1024 land auction lots is well aware that these lots are usually in very undesirable locations, surrounded by hideously ugly clutter, and of course the up-front cost of buying one is usually pretty expensive.
These new linden homes are a big improvement but releasing them before there was adequate inventory to meet demand was a huge error and a bad disservice to those of us who pay for premium membership. It's been rather badly handled and has meant that far too many of us who are paying real money for an in world perk aren't getting even close to our money's worth. That's bad, bad business on the part of Second Life.