Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice and nine other attorneys general, has initiated a civil antitrust lawsuit against RealPage Inc. and five major landlords in the United States. The lawsuit accuses these entities of engaging in unlawful practices that reduce competition among landlords regarding apartment pricing and claims RealPage seeks to monopolize the market for commercial revenue management software used by landlords.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. It targets Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield Inc., Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC, Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, Blackstone’s Livcor LLC, and Willow Bridge Property Company LLC alongside RealPage. The complaint alleges these parties have deprived renters of competitive leasing terms, impacting millions across the nation.
Attorney General Raoul emphasized the importance of affordable housing as a fundamental right: “Access to affordable housing is a basic human right. It is unacceptable that the people of Illinois should have to pay higher rental rates because a scheme to utilize new technology and break a long-standing law has stacked the odds against them,” he stated. He further affirmed his commitment to enforcing antitrust laws to ensure fair competition benefiting Illinois renters.
The legal action contends that RealPage formed contracts with competing landlords who engaged in setting rental prices through shared competitively sensitive information using common pricing algorithms. This allegedly involved sharing nonpublic data on rental rates and lease terms with RealPage to refine its algorithmic pricing software, which then advised participating landlords on rental pricing based on collective data.
According to Raoul, DOJ, and other attorneys general involved in the case, such coordination undermines free-market competition where landlords would typically compete independently over various aspects like pricing and lease terms to attract tenants. The lawsuit also argues that RealPage's actions aim at maintaining a monopoly over commercial revenue management software.
Additionally, it is alleged that these landlords coordinated through various means including direct communication about rents and occupancy with competitors' senior managers, conducting "call arounds," participating in user groups hosted by RealPage, and exchanging information about parameters within RealPage's software.
The lawsuit was filed jointly by Attorney General Raoul along with attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.