The biggest problem of sorting by age/FP on tech is that there can still be sizable imbalances in the hood based on other developments, those who spend a lot on GB development will be significantly 'advanced' compared to those who don't, but still matched together. (Perhaps those near the bottom of the hood should take it as a sign that they work too much on tech, and not enough on other things).
Perhaps a better sorting measure would be something like total FP spent, or even ranking points (since that is what people see as a ranking, neighborhoods would be ultimately balenced. This kind of sort would put back a bit of variety into the hood, which would be good. Especially if you use ranking points, things would tend to self balance as those who fight a win a lot will move up (and out) faster than those that don't.
For those who complain that they can't get higher age goods anymore, from my experience the hood was never a good source of that, I always found that if I was consistently progressing in my city, I was fairly consistently in the top part of the hood, and there were few opportunities for trading up in the hood. that was much more the job for my guild and in part my friends list.
As for lower age goods, I find you really do need to make goods of an age or two below you, as people an age below you don't really need that many of your age goods, as there isn't much for them to spend on. Yes, you want to trade up some to build GBs above your age, but this is somewhat limited in volume (not enough to support the need of the higher aged player needing lower age goods), and perhaps for people to over extend themselves on the continent (this can really mess you up though, so I don't recommend it, it will activate quests you can't complete, and limit you options in events).