DOJ Accuses RealPage of Antitrust Violations in Rent-Hiking Scheme

Justice Department accuses software company RealPage of violating antitrust laws through scheme to hike rents

The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Friday against real estate software company RealPage Inc., accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices. The lawsuit, filed alongside attorneys general in states including North Carolina and California, alleges the company is violating antitrust laws through its algorithm that landlords use to get recommended rental prices for apartments. The algorithm allows landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would otherwise keep rents down, Justice Department officials said. The complaint quotes one RealPage executive as saying "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." In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law." Attorneys general in several states have separately sued RealPage alleging an illegal price-fixing scheme over its algorithmic pricing software. In a statement, RealPage said the Justice Department's claims were "devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable." "We are disappointed that, after multiple years of education and cooperation on the antitrust matters concerning RealPage, the DOJ has chosen this moment to pursue a lawsuit that seeks to scapegoat pro-competitive technology that has been used responsibly for years," the company said. The use of data to help property managers set their rents isn't new or, on its face, illegal. But state prosecutors argue that RealPage is different. According to lawsuits filed in the past year by the attorneys general for Arizona and Washington, D.C., RealPage doesn't just use publicly available data - it uses confidential data that RealPage's clients have agreed to privately share to help RealPage's software to determine the highest price. That amounts to cartel-like illegal price collusion, prosecutors say. Only this time, instead of cartel members meeting inside a proverbial "smoke-filled room," the price-fixing is done by AI, they say. RealPage came under scrutiny after a 2022 ProPublica investigation into the company's practice suggested that it could be to blame for some of the rapid increases in housing costs. Since then, RealPage has drawn the ire of Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who in February introduced a bill to bar companies from using algorithms to collude and fix prices. And last week, in a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to crack down on "corporate landlords (who) collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices (by) using algorithms and price-fixing software." The case is the latest example of the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust enforcement. The Justice Department sued Apple in March and in May announced a sweeping lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment. Antitrust enforcers have also opened investigations into the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom. _____ Rico reported from Atlanta.

Justice Department accuses RealPage of violating antitrust laws through scheme to hike rents

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Friday against real estate software company RealPage Inc., accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices. The lawsuit, filed alongside attorneys general in states including North Carolina and California, alleges the company of violating antitrust laws through its algorithm that landlords use to get recommended rental prices for apartments. The algorithm allows landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would keep rents down, Justice Department officials said. The complaint quotes one RealPage executive as saying "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." In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law." Attorneys general in several states have separately sued RealPage alleging an illegal price-fixing scheme over its algorithmic pricing software. In a statement posted on its website in June, RealPage called claims against the company "false and misleading," and argued its software actually "contributes to a healthier and more efficient rental housing ecosystem." RealPage said landlords decide their own rent prices and are free to reject the recommendations provided by its software. It's the latest example of the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust enforcement. The Justice Department sued Apple in March and in May announced a sweeping lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment. Antitrust enforcers have also opened investigations into the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom.

RealPage's algorithm enabled collusion that kept rents high, antitrust lawsuits allege

The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Friday against real estate software company RealPage Inc., accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices. The lawsuit, filed alongside attorneys general in states including North Carolina and California, alleges the company is violating antitrust laws through its algorithm that landlords use to get recommended rental prices for apartments. The algorithm allows landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would otherwise keep rents down, Justice Department officials said. The complaint quotes one RealPage executive as saying "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." In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law." Attorneys general in several states have separately sued RealPage alleging an illegal price-fixing scheme over its algorithmic pricing software. In a statement, RealPage said the Justice Department's claims were "devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable." "We are disappointed that, after multiple years of education and cooperation on the antitrust matters concerning RealPage, the DOJ has chosen this moment to pursue a lawsuit that seeks to scapegoat pro-competitive technology that has been used responsibly for years," the company said. The use of data to help property managers set their rents isn't new or, on its face, illegal. But state prosecutors argue that RealPage is different. According to lawsuits filed in the past year by the attorneys general for Arizona and Washington, D.C., RealPage doesn't just use publicly available data -- it uses confidential data that RealPage's clients have agreed to privately share to help RealPage's software to determine the highest price. That amounts to cartel-like illegal price collusion, prosecutors say. Only this time, instead of cartel members meeting inside a proverbial "smoke-filled room," the price-fixing is done by AI, they say. RealPage came under scrutiny after a 2022 ProPublica investigation into the company's practice suggested that it could be to blame for some of the rapid increases in housing costs. Since then, RealPage has drawn the ire of Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who in February introduced a bill to bar companies from using algorithms to collude and fix prices. And last week, in a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to crack down on "corporate landlords (who) collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices (by) using algorithms and price-fixing software." The case is the latest example of the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust enforcement.

Justice Department accuses RealPage of violating antitrust laws through scheme to hike rents

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Friday against real estate software company RealPage Inc., accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices. The lawsuit, filed alongside attorneys general in states including North Carolina and California, alleges the company of violating antitrust laws through its algorithm that landlords use to get recommended rental prices for apartments. The algorithm allows landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would keep rents down, Justice Department officials said. The complaint quotes one RealPage executive as saying "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." In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law." Attorneys general in several states have separately sued RealPage alleging an illegal price-fixing scheme over its algorithmic pricing software. In a statement posted on its website in June, RealPage called claims against the company "false and misleading," and argued its software actually "contributes to a healthier and more efficient rental housing ecosystem." RealPage said landlords decide their own rent prices and are free to reject the recommendations provided by its software. It's the latest example of the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust enforcement. The Justice Department sued Apple in March and in May announced a sweeping lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment. Antitrust enforcers have also opened investigations into the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom.

RealPage Accused of Violating Antitrust Laws to Hike Rents

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Friday against real estate software company RealPage Inc., accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices. The lawsuit, filed alongside attorneys general in states including North Carolina and California, alleges the company of violating antitrust laws through its algorithm that landlords use to get recommended rental prices for apartments. The algorithm allows landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would keep rents down, Justice Department officials said. The complaint quotes one RealPage executive as saying "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." In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law." Attorneys general in several states have separately sued RealPage alleging an illegal price-fixing scheme over its algorithmic pricing software. In a statement posted on its website in June, RealPage called claims against the company "false and misleading," and argued its software actually "contributes to a healthier and more efficient rental housing ecosystem." RealPage said landlords decide their own rent prices and are free to reject the recommendations provided by its software. It's the latest example of the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust enforcement. The Justice Department sued Apple in March and in May announced a sweeping lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment. Antitrust enforcers have also opened investigations into the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom.

US sues software company RealPage for alleged rent hiking scheme

DoJ lawsuit claims firm's algorithm helps landlords coordinate rental prices and violates antitrust laws The US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit Friday against the real estate software company RealPage Inc, accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices. The lawsuit, filed alongside attorneys general in states including North Carolina and California, accuses the company of violating antitrust laws through its algorithm that landlords use to get recommended rental prices for apartments. The algorithm allows landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would keep rents down, justice department officials said. The complaint quotes one RealPage executive as saying "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". In a statement, attorney general Merrick Garland said: "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law." Attorneys general in several states have separately sued RealPage alleging an illegal price-fixing scheme over its algorithmic pricing software. In a statement posted on its website in June, RealPage called claims against the company "false and misleading", and argued its software actually "contributes to a healthier and more efficient rental housing ecosystem". RealPage said landlords decide their own rent prices and are free to reject the recommendations provided by its software. It's the latest example of the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust enforcement. The justice department sued Apple in March, and in May announced a sweeping lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment. Antitrust enforcers have also opened investigations into the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom.

DOJ sues software firm, alleging pricing algorithm enables landlords to raise rents

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the property management software company RealPage on Friday, alleging that its pricing algorithm enables landlords to share sensitive pricing information and raise rental prices. The lawsuit, which was joined by the attorneys general of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington, accuses RealPage of violating antitrust law by limiting competition among landlords. "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "Using software as the sharing mechanism does not immunize this scheme from Sherman Act liability, and the Justice Department will continue to aggressively enforce the antitrust laws and protect the American people from those who violate them," he added. The DOJ alleges that RealPage contracts with competing landlords who share "nonpublic, competitively sensitive information" about rental rates, which is then used by its algorithmic pricing software to generate recommendations on pricing and other terms, according to a press release. "By feeding sensitive data into a sophisticated algorithm powered by artificial intelligence, RealPage has found a modern way to violate a century-old law through systematic coordination of rental housing prices -- undermining competition and fairness for consumers in the process," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.

DOJ Sues Landlord Software Company RealPage for Inflating Americans' Rents

The U.S. Department of Justice and eight state attorneys general have filed an antitrust suit against the real estate software company RealPage accusing it of colluding with landlords to decrease competition and artificially inflate rental prices. The complaint alleges that the Texas-based company feeds nonpublic information about rent rates and lease terms between competing landlords into its algorithms, which then recommend rate increases to landlords based on their competitors’ information. The result, the DOJ says, is that landlords don’t compete against each other to attract tenants and rents go up across entire markets. “By feeding sensitive data into a sophisticated algorithm powered by artificial intelligence, RealPage has found a modern way to violate a century-old law through systematic coordination of rental housing pricesâ€"undermining competition and fairness for consumers in the process,†Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “Training a machine to break the law is still breaking the law.†According to the suit, RealPage executives and its landlord customers openly discussed price fixing with the company’s products. “I always liked this product [AIRM] because your algorithm uses proprietary data from other subscribers to suggest rents and term,†one landlord wrote to the company, according to the DOJ’s complaint. “That’s classic price fixing....â€Â Another landlord that used RealPage’s YieldStar algorithm allegedly told the company that within 11 months of adopting the tool they had increased rents by more than 25 percent and had brought competitors prices up as a result. A RealPage executive allegedly responded that it was a “great case study,†according to the complaint. The company’s influence on national rental prices appears to be massive. Between January 2017 and June 2023, more than 85 percent of the final floor plan prices set by landlords nationally were within 5 percent of the prices RealPage’s algorithms recommended, according to the lawsuit. The company’s software was allegedly designed to make price fixing nearly automatic, with default features enabled that automatically accept recommended price increases if they fall within certain ranges. “By enabling auto-accept, a landlord functionally delegates pricing authority to Real Page,†according to the lawsuit. In response to the lawsuit, a RealPage spokesperson told The New York Times that the company’s software was “purposely built to be legally compliant.†The DOJ’s lawsuit, which was joined by the attorneys general of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington, was filed in a North Carolina federal court.

DOJ accuses real estate software company of helping landlords collude to raise rents

The Justice Department says RealPage's algorithmic pricing software allows landlords nationwide to set rents above market rate and deprives renters of the benefits of competition. THe Texas-based company has denied the allegations. Nam Y. Huh/AP hide caption The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that it is suing the real estate company RealPage, alleging it engaged in a price-fixing scheme to drive up rents. Eight states are joining the Justice Department's antitrust suit. It alleges that RealPage's algorithmic pricing software lets landlords to effectively collude, and set rents above market rate. The department says this use of artificial intelligence deprives renters of the benefits of competition. It also accuses RealPage of monopolizing the market. RealPage has pitched its software as maximizing profits. But the Texas-based company has said it's not anticompetitive and that it lowers rents when demand drops.

DOJ Files Antitrust Suit Against RealPage, Maker of Rent-Setting Algorithm

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. The Department of Justice and eight states on Friday sued the maker of rent-setting software that critics blame for sending rents soaring in apartment buildings across the country. The civil lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Greensboro, North Carolina, accuses Texas tech company RealPage of taking part in an illegal price-fixing scheme to reduce competition among landlords so they can boost prices -- and profits. It also alleges the company took over the market for such price-setting software, effectively monopolizing it. "RealPage has built a business out of frustrating the natural forces of vigorous competition," said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter at a news conference Friday with top department officials. "The time has come to stop this illegal conduct." The antitrust lawsuit is the latest -- and most dramatic -- development to follow a 2022 ProPublica investigation that examined RealPage's role in helping landlords set rent prices across the country, an arrangement that legal experts said could result in cartel-like behavior. Since then, senators have introduced legislation seeking to ban such practices, tenants have filed dozens of ongoing federal lawsuits, and San Francisco's Board of Supervisors moved to bar landlords from using similar algorithms to set rents. Justice Department officials said Friday that their lawsuit followed a nearly two-year investigation into the company. Along with traditional approaches, such as examining internal records, they said their probe involved data scientists who dug into computer code to understand how these algorithms set prices. RealPage's software enables landlords to share confidential data and charge similar rents, the officials said. "We learned that the modern machinery of algorithms and AI can be even more effective than the smoke-filled rooms of the past," Kanter said, referring to artificial intelligence. "You don't need a Ph.D. to know that algorithms can make coordination among competitors easier." The case has become central to the Justice Department's efforts to jumpstart antitrust enforcement under the Biden White House. Officials said they are also scrutinizing similar information-sharing exchanges in other industries, including meat processing. "Training a machine to break the law is still breaking the law," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said. But experts say that prosecutors face challenges in applying the more than 100-year-old Sherman Antitrust Act to situations in which competitors rely on new technologies to coordinate their prices. RealPage, which is owned by the private equity company Thoma Bravo, did not immediately respond to ProPublica's request for comment. It has previously denied wrongdoing. In a statement published on its website in June, the company said its landlord clients are free to accept or reject its advice and that its impact on the national rental market is smaller than portrayed by the software's critics. "RealPage uses data responsibly, including limited aggregated and anonymized nonpublic data where accuracy aids pro-competitive uses," the company's statement said. It has previously said it will fight antitrust litigation. The DOJ's suit does not name landlords as defendants, unlike the complaints filed by tenants, which accused some of the biggest landlords in the country of price-fixing through RealPage. In May, the FBI raided an Atlanta-based landlord involved in the lawsuits. The landlord said it was not law enforcement's target. DOJ officials declined to answer a question about why their lawsuit did not name landlords, with Kanter saying he "can't comment on any further investigations." The DOJ complaint, which is more than 100 pages long, quotes RealPage executives and landlords speaking about the impact of the software. The lawsuit alleges that the company's software works by helping landlords realize that if they all raise prices, or fail to drop them during a downturn, "a rising tide raises all ships." "I always liked this product because your algorithm uses proprietary data from other subscribers to suggest rents and term," one landlord commented about the product, according to the lawsuit. "That's classic price fixing." Justice Department officials said the software has had a "substantial" impact on the housing market. It is used to set rent for more than three million apartments nationwide, Kanter said, and it draws on competitively sensitive information from over 16 million units. Americans spend more on housing than any other expense, officials said. "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law," Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the news conference. ProPublica's story found that in one Seattle neighborhood, 70% of all multifamily apartments were overseen by just 10 property managers -- every single one of whom used pricing software sold by RealPage. The company claimed its software could help landlords "outperform the market" by 3% to 7%. Justice officials alleged that RealPage "polices" landlords' compliance with its recommendations. Its software has an "auto-accept" setting, which allows landlords to automatically adopt its suggestions and "effectively permits RealPage to determine the price a renter will pay," Garland said. The states whose attorneys general have joined the federal lawsuit are North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington. Meanwhile, housing costs have emerged as a political issue in the presidential election, as the candidates travel the country making their cases. Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, criticized landlords' use of price-setting software to determine rents. "Some corporate landlords collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices, often using algorithms and price-fixing software to do it," she said. "It's anticompetitive, and it drives up costs."

DOJ alleges RealPage, landlords coordinated to raise millions of rents

A federal judge has ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by creating a monopoly with its popular search engine. WASHINGTON - The Justice Department and attorneys general from eight states filed a lawsuit Friday alleging a Dallas company, RealPage, collected sensitive information from landlords nationwide that allegedly made it easier for them to coordinate and raise prices for millions of renters nationwide. RealPage provides software to landlords to help manage 16 million rental units nationwide, largely in the Sun Belt and South. The federal lawsuit filed in North Carolina alleges RealPage holds a monopoly in what is called "revenue management software" for landlords because the company controls 80% of the market nationwide. The lawsuit contends that by sharing sensitive information from landlords about rents, leases and vacancy rates, RealPage helps them collude to avoid competition and raise prices. Without RealPage's information and recommendations about the rents that competitors are charging and the vacancies that are available, landlords are able to charge higher prices or avoid offering concessions such as a month without rent, according to the lawsuit. "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law," Attorney General Merrick Garland said. RealPage didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. RealPage processes the information through algorithmic pricing software that generates recommendations for rental pricing. The lawsuit cited examples of how RealPage and landlords allegedly used the information they shared. A RealPage executive told a landlord that using competitor data could help identify where a landlord "may have a $50 increase instead of a $10 increase for the day," according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also quoted a landlord describing RealPage's software. "I always liked this product because your algorithm uses proprietary data from other subscribers to suggests rent and term," the landlord said. "That's classic price fixing." "The impact of the conduct is extensive," said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, head of the department's antitrust division. "As Americans struggle to afford housing, RealPage is making it easier for landlords to coordinate to increase rents." Garland said housing costs are the biggest expense Americans face month to month, and the alleged collusion between RealPage and landlords kept prices higher than they would have been otherwise. "Everybody knows the rent is too damn high and we allege this is one of the reasons why," Garland said. More: 'Magnificent' malfeasance? Google antitrust lawsuit isn't the only big name in court First-ever algorithm-based antitrust lawsuit Justice Department officials said said this was the first civil case where the government alleged an algorithm was the method used for allegedly violating federal law. Kanter hired data scientists and researchers to investigate allegations of this sort of technological collusion and the lawsuit resulted from a nearly two-year investigation. "By feeding sensitive data into a sophisticated algorithm powered by artificial intelligence, RealPage has found a modern way to violate a century-old law through systematic coordination of rental housing prices - undermining competition and fairness for consumers in the process," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said. "Training a machine to break the law is still breaking the law." States participating in the lawsuit include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. Biden's Justice Department's antitrust agenda The lawsuit is the latest Justice Department fight against consolidation of business that the government contends reduces choices for consumers and drives up prices, since President Joe Biden took office. Google illegally used its search engine superiority to monopolize online searches to stifle competition, a federal court ruled on Aug. 5. The department sued Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, in May alleging it monopolized live events. The lawsuit seeks to lower prices for fans and open venue doors to more musicians. The department sued Apple in March alleging the company monopolized smartphone markets, making it harder for consumers to switch phones, stifling innovation and imposing higher costs on developers and businesses. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, recently announced a plan to combat high housing prices by building 3 million more homes.

RealPage: US accuses software firm of driving rent hikes

RealPage did not immediately comment but it has previously called similar claims false and misleading. The Texas-based company, which is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, has found itself in the spotlight in recent years, after an investigation from ProPublica drew attention to its practices. The company has already been the target of lawsuits filed by renters and prosecutors in Arizona and the District of Columbia earlier this year. With housing affordability a hot-button issue in the US, criticism of rent-setting algorithms has also become a staple of speeches from Vice President Kamala Harris during her presidential campaign. In the complaint, the DOJ and eight states claim RealPage had access to information about millions of apartments across the country. "RealPage allows landlords to manipulate, distort, and subvert market forces," the DOJ alleged in the complaint. It took aim at a RealPage offering that recommends rents to its property owner customers, suggesting that many agree to "auto accept" the proposals from RealPage. It claimed the firm dominated the market for commercial revenue management software, citing the firm's own estimates that it controlled about 80% of the market. RealPage in June said it served a much smaller fraction of the rental market than has been claimed and that landlords, not RealPage, set prices. The lawsuit marks a first for the federal government as it seeks to address the rising use of pricing algorithms across the economy. Officials said they were also looking at such practices in the meat industry and elsewhere. "Modern-day wrongdoers cannot hid behind software algorithms and artificial intelligence to violate the law," said assistant attorney general Jonathan Kanter, who leads up the department's anti-monopoly unit.

The Apartment Rental Market Is Rigged by Algorithms, a DOJ Lawsuit Alleges

The US Department of Justice alleges that a company called RealPage is responsible for price-fixing across millions of apartment rental units across the country. If you've rented an apartment in the US in the last several years, you may have had the sense that the game was rigged: Prices creep up not only at your building but at others throughout the city, seemingly in lockstep. A new civil lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice today alleges that in many cases it's not just in your head -- and that a single company's algorithm is to blame. That company is RealPage, a Texas-based firm that provides commercial revenue management software for landlords. In other words, it helps set the prices of apartments. But it does so, the DOJ alleges in its lawsuit, by effectively helping its clients cheat; landlords feed rental rate and lease terms into the system, and the RealPage algorithm in turn spits out a suggested price that enables coordination and hinders competition. "By feeding sensitive data into a sophisticated algorithm powered by artificial intelligence, RealPage has found a modern way to violate a century-old law through systematic coordination of rental housing prices," deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said in a statement. RealPage's reach is broad. It controls 80 percent of the market for software of its kind, which in turn is used to set prices of around three million units across the country, according to the DOJ. It already faces multiple lawsuits, including one from the state of Arizona and another in Washington, DC, where RealPage software is allegedly used to price more than 90 percent of units in large apartment buildings. RealPage's algorithmic pricing first gained broader attention when a 2022 ProPublica investigation exposed how the company's YieldStar software works. The DOJ civil lawsuit, which was joined by the attorneys general of eight states, is a significant escalation in legal action against the company. It's also a first for the DOJ, according to officials speaking on background during a call to discuss the complaint. While the government had previously filed criminal charges against an Amazon seller for algorithm-enabled price-fixing, this is the first civil action in which the algorithm itself, the Justice Department official says, was effectively the means of the violation. The complaint itself quotes RealPage executives allegedly acknowledging anticompetitive aspects of its product. "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," one RealPage executive allegedly wrote. RealPage has repeatedly denied any allegations of antitrust violations, going so far as to publish a six-page digital pamphlet that claims to tell "The Real Story" about its products, along with an extensive FAQ page on a dedicated public policy website. "Attacks on the industry's revenue management are based on demonstrably false information," one section of that site reads. RealPage revenue management software benefits both housing providers and residents." This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.