T
he U.S. Justice Department has reached a settlement with real‑estate technology company RealPage over accusations that its software enabled landlords to collude and inflate rents. The agreement, filed in federal court in North Carolina, bars RealPage from using “nonpublic, competitively sensitive information” supplied by landlords to set rental prices. It also requires the firm to stop feeding active lease data into its algorithms and to rely only on data that is at least twelve months old.
Under the deal, RealPage must cease allowing its models to assess geographic market effects below the state level and must eliminate or redesign any features that restrict rent reductions or otherwise encourage price alignment among competing landlords on its platform. The company will also stop soliciting sensitive market data through surveys, discontinue discussing nonpublic market trends in revenue‑management meetings, and submit to court‑appointed monitoring to ensure compliance.
The DOJ’s antitrust chief, Gail Slater, said the settlement would restore competitive pricing in rental markets for millions of Americans and that the agency would continue to enforce antitrust laws aggressively as algorithmic and artificial‑intelligence tools become more prevalent.
The lawsuit, originally filed by Attorney General Merrick Garland and eight states—California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington—alleged that RealPage’s software created an illegal monopoly in multi‑family property‑management software and allowed landlords to prioritize profits over occupancy, tightening the housing supply and driving up rents. In January, the complaint was amended to add six major landlords—Greystar, LivCor, Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield, Willow Bridge, and Cortland—as co‑defendants, and two additional states, Illinois and Massachusetts, joined as plaintiffs.
RealPage has agreed to cooperate with the DOJ in the ongoing lawsuits against the remaining landlord defendants. The DOJ has already settled with Cortland and Greystar; proceedings against the other defendants are pending.
This case marks the first time the DOJ has pursued alleged algorithmic collusion, a growing concern as more industries rely on software to drive business decisions. The lawsuit cited statements from RealPage executives that suggested awareness of the software’s impact on competition, including a comment that “there is greater good in everybody succeeding versus essentially trying to compete against one another in a way that actually keeps the entire industry down.”
The settlement was reached amid President Trump’s broader effort to lower housing costs, which have strained ordinary Americans. By securing remedies without a trial, the DOJ avoided a process that could have taken years.
RealPage, headquartered in Richardson, Texas, will now operate under stricter data usage rules and oversight, aiming to prevent future collusion and restore fair competition in the rental market.
