US investigating whether property software enables rental price fixing

DJ Suss D: This is an important story on rental price fixing reported by Sam Broadway on the KEPW show Legalize Survival.

Sam Broadway: From Judd Legum of a publication known as Popular Information: Over the last four years, rents have skyrocketed an average of over 30% nationwide and are a major factor in the overall inflation rate.

[00:00:29] There are a variety of factors behind the increases, including an overall housing shortage. But the Department of Justice is investigating another potential cause: a massive criminal conspiracy among large landlords.

[00:00:45] Last month, the FBI conducted an unannounced raid of Cortland Management, a major corporate landlord based in Atlanta. The surprise search appears to be part of a Department of Justice criminal investigation, first reported by Politico in March, into an alleged scheme among corporate landlords to artificially increase rents through collusion.

[00:01:11] This investigation centers around the use of RealPage, advanced property management software used by many corporate landlords.

[00:01:21] Following a 2022 expose by ProPublica, RealPage and landlords that use the software have been named defendants in multiple class action lawsuits, as well as actions filed by the Attorneys General of Arizona and Washington, D.C.

[00:01:43] Corporate landlords using RealPage software dominate the rental market in many metropolitan areas in Phoenix. Landlords who use RealPage control a large number of properties in the Atlanta area. The use of RealPage in the Atlanta area alone has coincided with a sharp increase in rental prices. Overall, rents in Atlanta are up 56% since 2016.

[00:02:08] RealPage also controls a large share of the market in Baltimore, Charlotte, Houston, and Miami.

[00:02:19] So this comes from the Eugene Area Homeless Discussion and Resources and Homeless Action as well and this is their post from a few days ago on Facebook.

RealPage says it is all a misunderstanding. Legalize Survival airs Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. on KEPW 97.3 FM.

UPDATE (Aug. 23, 2024): Henry Su is lead attorney as the U.S. Department of Justice will ask a federal district court to find that RealPage “acted unlawfully to restrain trade in conventional multifamily rental housing markets across the United States in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.” Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum of Oregon signed on as plaintiff, as did several other state attorneys general.