Also, there will always be limited supply. COVID-19 and remote work changed that a little bit, but there's other reasons people want to live close to population

Also, there will always be limited supply. COVID-19 and remote work changed that a little bit, but there's other reasons people want to live close to population centers: Restaurants, entertainment, shopping, schools, and friends, to name a few. Most people will always want to live not very far (but not too close!) to some group of other people.