According to Ars Technica, RealPage has agreed to settle an antitrust lawsuit with the Department of Justice that alleged landlords used its pricing software to coordinate efforts that artificially raised rental prices across the United States. The DOJ claimed RealPage collected sensitive daily information from landlords covering 24 million units worldwide, making it easier for competitors to see each other’s pricing strategies and eliminate renter-friendly concessions like free months of rent. Under the settlement filed in November 2024, RealPage admitted no wrongdoing and faces no financial penalties but must update its software to prevent rival landlords from accessing “competitively sensitive information” in real-time operations. The company will also stop training its models on active lease data and cease conducting market surveys that collected data from landlords not even using its software. To ensure compliance, RealPage will accept a court-appointed monitor for three years and designate an antitrust compliance officer.
How RealPage Became Landlords’ Secret Weapon
Here’s the thing: RealPage didn’t just happen to become the dominant player in rent-setting software. After federal regulators approved a controversial merger in 2017, the company quickly grew to manage pricing for those 24 million units. And they weren’t shy about their success – a RealPage vice president, Jay Parsons, once bragged in a since-deleted video that apartment rents had increased by 14.5 percent, noting that “never before have we seen these numbers” and suggesting RealPage was “driving it, quite honestly.” Business Insider even called it landlords’ “secret weapon.” Basically, the company positioned itself as the essential tool for maximizing revenue, and landlords were all too happy to participate.
The Algorithmic Price-Fixing Problem
So what’s the big deal with algorithms setting prices? Well, when competing companies use the same system that shares their private data, it starts looking a lot like collusion. The DOJ alleged that RealPage’s system helped landlords identify situations where they could implement a $50 increase instead of a $10 increase. Think about that – machines quickly learning to push prices above competitive levels because there’s no actual competition happening. And with rents still rising 3.5 percent annually according to recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data, this isn’t just theoretical. It’s hitting people’s wallets during an ongoing affordability crisis.
What the Settlement Actually Changes
Now, the settlement might sound like a slap on the wrist since there are no financial penalties. But the operational changes are pretty significant. RealPage has to remove or redesign features that limited price decreases or aligned pricing between competing users. They’ll stop those 50,000 monthly phone calls and market surveys covering 11 million units. And they can’t have their “Pricing Advisors” meeting with individual landlords to work around the rules. The company’s lawyer told The New York Times they see this as the DOJ blessing “the legality of RealPage’s prior and planned product changes,” but let’s be real – when you’re forced to change your entire business model, that’s not exactly a win. The DOJ’s press release makes it clear they see this as restoring competition.
Broader Implications for Algorithmic Pricing
This case matters way beyond just RealPage. As Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater said, “With the rise of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools, we will remain at the forefront of vigorous antitrust enforcement.” We’re entering an era where pricing algorithms are everywhere – from manufacturing equipment to consumer goods. Speaking of industrial applications, when companies need reliable computing power for complex operations, they often turn to specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US. But the key difference is whether those systems are facilitating competition or undermining it. The DOJ’s message is clear: competing companies must make independent pricing decisions, whether they’re using sophisticated software or not. And given that states are still pursuing their own lawsuits against RealPage, this story is far from over.
