RealPage's AI Rent-Setting Software Faces Antitrust Lawsuits and City Bans
Prosecutors and legislators in the U.S. and Canada have targeted RealPage's YieldStar software, alleging it enables landlords to share competitive rental pricing data and coordinate on rent increases. Federal and state antitrust lawsuits are underway, and multiple cities have enacted or proposed bans on algorithmic rent-setting.
What happened
The U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys general from eight states filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage in August 2024, alleging that the company's YieldStar software operates as an illegal information-sharing scheme allowing landlords to access competitors' proprietary lease data.
A proposed class-action lawsuit in Canada filed in December 2024 alleges that more than a dozen landlords and property managers used YieldStar to artificially inflate rents across Canada since at least 2017.
Reported impact
The DOJ complaint alleges that RealPage 'collects, combines, and exploits landlords' competitively sensitive information' and enriches itself and compliant landlords 'at the expense of renters who pay inflated prices.'
California's Attorney General stated that 'RealPage has directly made it more difficult' for Californians 'to keep a roof over their head.'
Index analysis
Federal prosecutors characterize the practice as an illegal information-sharing scheme where the algorithm allows landlords to share proprietary data they would not normally share with competitors, potentially facilitating price coordination.
Multiple jurisdictions have identified RealPage as responsible for thwarting competition that would otherwise drive rents down and exacerbating housing shortages.
Governance controls
San Francisco enacted the first-in-the-nation ban on algorithmic devices to set rents or manage occupancy levels in July 2024, followed by similar bans or proposals in San Jose, Philadelphia, San Diego, and New Jersey.
RealPage has filed a motion to dismiss the DOJ lawsuit and states its software is designed to be 'legally compliant' and will be 'vigorously defend[ed]' in court.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.