No

Stables are slightly better for gnomes than other races for 2 reasons. Firstly you're best offence unit only has '5' offence so a horse adding +1 offence is equivilent to +20% off. Seconly, theres very little chance of anyone stealing your horses :).

I'd say about 10-15% homes is best for gnome. You have lower birth rate and higher casualties so you'll need the +birth rate from homes to keep your population healthy. Plus gnomes have better homes (population wise) than other races which makes them a solid choice.