Yes landlords are famous for renting at a loss…

Of course the amount of money that would go into a mortgage payment would go into rent. If they pay cash up front, they have a projected timeline to recoup that investment. The details about whether it’s technically a mortgage payment is immaterial, the reality for the resident is that rent is higher than a comparable mortgage payment would be.

The only difference in amount is that the rent pretends the mortgage is infinite term, rather then rent getting cheap after the purchaser has recouped their purchase expense.