In the rest of the western world, landlords buy houses. They're especially prolific for this in places with a high demand for housing, as this will maximise their profit extraction for the least amount of work. It's a real problem, especially when the people denying mortgages to people are the same ones buying up the housing stock.

The same claim is made in the UK about the "real" problem being building regulations, as if forcing developers to build infrastructure like schools and roads (along with the houses they want to build) is a bad thing. Luckily though, the idea that the private sector could save us from themselves, at the expense of their own profit, is so silly that most people are informed enough to dismiss it instantly as nothing more than the corporate propaganda it is.

At some point, we have to start accepting the finite nature of land.

Yes, they do (or in my case they buy the land and build new houses). I live in a rented house right now in northern germany. Most of the houses in my Siedlung are rented. My Landlord (probably, i dont know for sure) owns more than a few of them.

To buy a house around here you need upwards of 400k€ (there are cheaper houses, but then you will spend a TON of money into Sanierung), and for a credit of that size the bank wants an Eigenbeteiligung of around 50k€, I dont have that kind of money laying around, so renting it is. Luckily my rent is still kinda cheap at about 1200€/M warm.