That has not very much to do with money though. There are many ways to allocate scarce resources, such as rationing. Even if money is used, the mere fact of scarcity doesn't define the price of something. Silver is also finite, but it still costs $2.50 a gram and not $25000 a gram. Land was always finite but was still much cheaper in the past.

The main contributor to the price here is financialization. The more money the average buyer can raise for one of the scarce things, the more they cost. Nobody wins from this except the banks, so perhaps it should be more regulated.

Building regulations are also a problem. Legalize whatever you feel is the minimum safety standard of homeless encampment or slum, and watch house prices crash overnight, since prices are set at the margins and a lot of people (including me) would be happy to find a way to work with simple concrete box if it was cheap and secure, but it's not legal to build those.

Okay, but institutional investors didn’t create that fact of reality, and I don’t think they’re responsible for the fact that people want to live in or near cities either (instead of the middle of nowhere, which remains dirt cheap). If they’re not holding significant stock, what effect are they having on scarcity?

> and you cannot make more of it

The Netherlands and Tokyo beg to differ.

Yes, you can make more. Make multi-level buildings.