Nation's largest landlord settles price-fixing claims with DOJ

(NewsNation) — The nation's largest landlord has reached a settlement with the Justice Department over claims it used a rent-setting algorithm improperly and colluded with competitors to boost profits.

Greystar, which manages almost 950,000 rental units across the country, agreed to a proposed settlement earlier this month that will bar the company from using "any anticompetitive algorithm" that generates pricing recommendations using its competitors' sensitive data, the department said in a statement.

The agreement comes after federal prosecutors accused Greystar and other large landlords of using RealPage's algorithmic pricing software to share sensitive rental data, enabling them to coordinate rent increases.

The DOJ said Greystar and other landlords also discussed competitively sensitive topics — including pricing strategies, rents and selected parameters for RealPage’s software — directly with each other.

Those activities, federal authorities argued, were anticompetitive, hurting Americans who were already facing steep housing costs.

"American greatness has always depended on free-market competition, and nowhere is competition more important than in making housing affordable again," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the settlement announcement.

The deal, which still has to be approved by a judge, will also block Greystar from sharing competitively sensitive information with competitors moving forward.

Last year, a White House report found that renters whose landlords used RealPage's algorithm paid an additional $70 a month on average — and in cities like Atlanta, Dallas and Denver, the premium topped $130.

Greystar did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement and said in a statement that it "firmly believes that its use of RealPage's revenue management software complies with all applicable laws."

The company said it entered into the settlement to make clear the government's interpretation of the law since the industry continues to face "unclear regulatory guidance around the use of revenue management tools."