Do they actually consider you for future positions after being rejected just before the offer stage?

For as long as I've been in the industry, I know better than to feel this way, but let's just say what looked like my "dream job" came along. I had a blast with the coding assessment, did fantastic on the technical interview, and felt great about the final behavioral interviews, too. After a month of interviews, the next step was to see if I got an offer or not. It was a competitive role, in a competitive market, but I still felt like I had a really good shot at it.

Then, the dreaded call came in and I was told "this is a hard decision because it was down to the wire" - the feedback from the interviewers was overall positive, but there was a stronger candidate. There were a few things he called "nitpicking" about specific technologies I knew that they didn't use, and maybe my experience in their specific industry could have been a little stronger. All in all, I appreciate that they gave me so much feedback even though I was rejected. He mentioned that he would keep me in mind for future roles, and even encouraged me to reapply if I see something else pop up because I would get to skip most of the process the second time around.

Has anyone had a rejection at the final stage like this and actually had another shot with the company later? Of course, I'm not planning on putting all of my eggs in this basket, but I'm curious about how serious they are when they say that (or if they're just be nice).

(Note: during a few of the interviews, separate people mentioned that they're hiring for more roles throughout the year and, in hindsight, this could have been code for "we're eyeing a someone but want to keep you on our radar"? Well...best not to overanalyze it, either way.)