Groundwork’s Lindsay Owens on RealPage & Corporate Landlords: “Their price fixing has cost families billions”

Groundwork’s Lindsay Owens on RealPage & Corporate Landlords: “Their price fixing has cost families billions”

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice sued six corporate landlords as part of their antitrust lawsuit against algorithmic pricing software RealPage. Today, a new investigation from The Washington Post reveals the depth and breadth of RealPage’s influence on the multifamily housing market – more than 4.5 million housing units are owned by landlords who use RealPage.

Groundwork Collaborative Executive Director Lindsay Owens reacted with the following statement:

“The impact of RealPage’s influence on the housing market is deeply disturbing. Their price fixing has cost families billions and the Justice Department must hold them accountable for any illegal activity.

“If these algorithmic pricing schemes aren’t stopped, RealPage and their co-conspirators will soon have a stranglehold over more units, pushing up rent for more families.”

Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak with one of Groundwork’s experts about RealPage and the threat of algorithmic pricing on the economy.

BACKGROUND

• RealPage’s pricing software and practices have facilitated collusive behavior in the rental housing market by helping corporate landlords tacitly raise rents in lockstep with one another.
• But RealPage’s tactics were not restricted to software. They held in-person meetings where users of the software, corporate landlords in most cases, heard lectures about the need to “push up new and renewal pricing.” A team of RealPage staff place tens of thousands of calls every week to landlords across the country to gather nonpublic information on rent prices, occupancy rates, lease terms, and more.
• The White House Council of Economic Advisors estimates that algorithmic pricing practices in the housing market cost renters $3.8 billion in 2023.
• Maurice Stucke, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, estimates that 30 to 60 percent of multifamily-building units are priced using RealPage in more than 40 housing markets across the country.