Pretty sure most of these housing areas have always been there -- and some are on islands, which may be what you mean? Again though, that's always been the case. Most housing areas now have crafting facilities, bank, mailbox and broker "within a chunk" or so.
This post on Vanguard crafters has maps with the housing-designated areas and the plot prices are colour-coded. It's old, but still seems accurate from what I remember. I've not been playing in the last month or so, so I don't know what recent developments there may have been.