I lived overseas for a while and had to rent a property and I was shocked at the high prices of rental and poor state of the properties compared to the UK. Then someone explained to me properly how it worked and saw things in a different light.
In that country there was long-term security of tenure along with strict rent control (providing the rent was paid and the place kept in reasonable condition). Most people rented for life so when they were young they struggled with high rents, the tenants were responsible for all repairs so they also had to gradually do up their rented properties - new kitchens, bathrooms, flooring etc. The rent didn't go up by very much over their lifetimes and so by the time they retired, inflation meant that their rents were low and they had done most of the improvements they wanted to the property.
It worked well and provided stability to tenants. People moved much less and not many people needed to buy. There was very little state-owned property as it wasn't required, other than for an unfortunate few who were never able to work.
From the landlord's point of view, there was stability of tenants, but the only real opportunity to increase rent was between those tenants. Selling properties with tenants in situ was possible but the values were lower. Landlords were in it for the long-term as there were no short-term gains to be made.