Places where many people already live will always be the most attractive. You are not going to solve this by trying to even out population density. Trying to manipulate demand with anything is almost always a losing approach.
You don't have to overcomplicate things. Supply less than demand > price goes up. Increase supply > price goes down. The data shows the same pattern over and over again[1]. See Japan as an international example or Minneapolis[2] and Austin[3] as US examples.
[1] https://deny.substack.com/p/tracking-the-anglo-worlds-housin...
[2] https://www.ft.com/content/86836af4-6b52-49e8-a8f0-8aec6181d...