RealPage barred from using real-time data to set rents under new DOJ settlement

"Landlords could no longer rely on rent-pricing software to quietly track each other's moves and push rents higher using confidential data, under a settlement between RealPage Inc. and federal prosecutors to end what critics said was illegal "algorithmic collusion." The deal announced Monday by the Department of Justice follows a yearlong federal antitrust lawsuit, launched during the Biden administration, against the Texas-based software company. RealPage would not have to pay any damages or admit any wrongdoing."

""RealPage was replacing competition with coordination, and renters paid the price," said DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater, who emphasized that the settlement avoided a costly, time-consuming trial. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, RealPage can no longer use that real-time data to determine price recommendations. Instead, the only nonpublic data that can be used to train the software's algorithm must be at least one year old."

""What does this mean for you and your family?" Slater said in a video statement. "It means more real competition in local housing markets. It means rents set by the market, not by a secret algorithm." RealPage attorney Stephen Weissman said the company is pleased the DOJ worked with them to settle the matter. "There has been a great deal of misinformation about how RealPage's software works and the value it provides for both housing providers and renters," Weissman said in a statement. "We believe that RealPage's historical use of aggregated and anonymized nonpublic data, which include ren"

A Department of Justice settlement restricts RealPage from using real-time, nonpublic rental data to generate price recommendations, requiring any nonpublic data used to be at least one year old. The settlement follows a yearlong federal antitrust suit alleging the software enabled coordination among landlords and pushed rents higher. RealPage faces no damages payment and admits no wrongdoing under the proposed deal, which must be approved by a judge. RealPage provides daily pricing suggestions to landlords, and DOJ officials said the change will foster more competition and market-driven rents.

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