If you compare equally sized places, rent is pretty much always higher. At least it has been in every city/town I’ve ever lived in. Renting is not cheap, you’re paying a premium to the landlord.

Not all landlords min/max for peak financial outcome.

My landlord for 15 years raised rent exactly once when property taxes had a large jump one year, and was already under market when I started the first lease.

His mortgage was long paid off and he optimized for least hassle vs max money. Worked out for both of us - I called him maybe once a year at most, and he had a decent passive income stream reliably come in without worrying about 2am phone calls because a $50 thermostat broke. He had a nicely appreciated property to sell in his eventual retirement.

It was a 3BR place with a yard larger than I own now. Granted fit and finish is nowhere comparable, but I pay about 4x in mortgage and taxes than what I was paying him for about 1.5x the space.

Such arrangements are increasingly more rare as everything becomes a finance game, but they can still be sought out and developed.