Are 340’s rare

Sure. If a 340 shortblock is $2000 (I'm assuming, I've never owned any small block except for the two barrel 273 from my 67 barracuda. I own more 90 year old straight eights than smallblocks!) I would MUCH rather have a $100 318 shortblock bore it .030, and put a scat stroker kit in it... and probably still have less in it than a 340.
And, anything you can put on top of a 340 short, you can put on a 318/392 and get same or better result.
A 340 short block, equivalently built, would probably be a $500-1000 premium compared to a 318 or 360 based engine. The $2k is overblown.

Ironically a 273 probably would cost more because of the specialty pistons required.