Colonizing other continents was also both hella dangerous and expensive at the time.

I think there's a lot of factors, including where the FTL transit time, potentia habitability of the destination, and conditions back on Earth.

There's a big difference between "hey we're sending you lot on a trip with at least a year transit time to a potentially hostile destination" versus "go ahead and start building, if you need anything call Tony and he'll have a guy there by Tuesday".

If FTL were a thing, or even near FTL with long-term habitability I don't totally see something like the Mormon Ark-Ship (from the Expanse) being funded by a wealthy enough group.