The Daily Populous Wednesday November 26th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by arstechnica.com and submitted by TheHeatIsHeated

RealPage has agreed to settle an antitrust lawsuit raised by the Department of Justice, alleging that landlords used its tools to coordinate efforts to artificially raise rental prices across the US.

In a press release, the DOJ promised the proposed settlement “would help restore free market competition in rental markets for millions of American renters.”

For years since the pandemic started, rental prices outpaced inflation, and the DOJ suspected that RealPage was the dominant force driving a market that never favored renters. Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data covering a 12-month period ending this September showed rents are still rising by 3.5 percent amid an affordability crisis, leaving some US renters in fear of housing instability.

In its complaint filed last August, the DOJ alleged that RealPage collected sensitive information daily from landlords, making it easier to see how competitors were pricing units. This information allegedly helped landlords “identify situations” where they could “have a $50 increase instead of a $10 increase” or eliminate “renter-friendly concessions (like a free month’s rent or waived fees)” they may have used “to attract or retain renters.”

“To RealPage, the ‘greater good’ is served by ensuring that otherwise competing landlords rob Americans of the fruits of competition—lower rental prices, better leasing terms, more concessions,” the DOJ alleged.

Under the proposed settlement agreement, RealPage admitted to no wrongdoing and faced no financial penalties. In court filings, the Texas-based company maintained that its “software recommends competitive, or ‘market,’ prices” and that it did nothing to prevent other commercial revenue management software companies from competing.

Woxan on November 25th, 2025 at 18:40 UTC »

Want to stick it to landlords? Support abundant housing in your community to give tenants leverage and opportunity.

tony971 on November 25th, 2025 at 18:15 UTC »

It’s nice that they agreed to avoid doing the thing that would be extremely illegal if it wasn’t automated.

KBISFORME on November 25th, 2025 at 18:15 UTC »

sure, I’ll trust that!