Rents in Portland have soared in recent years, causing some pushback by residents. (Getty Images)
Oregon’s attorney general has joined other states, the District of Columbia and federal government in an antitrust lawsuit against a company selling property management software that recommends rental prices to landlords.
The lawsuit against Texas-based RealPage accused the company of gathering confidential rental data from more than 16 million units nationwide to create software that enables landlords to coordinate prices rather than compete. It said that RealPage has a monopoly in the rental management software, controlling at least 80% of that market.
“Its dominant position is protected by substantial data advantages due to its massive reservoir of ill-gotten competitively sensitive information from competing landlords,” the lawsuit said. “RealPage replaces competition with coordination. It substitutes unity for rivalry. It subverts competition and the competitive process. It does so openly and directly – and American renters are left paying the price.”
Filed Friday in U.S. District Court in North Carolina, the lawsuit comes at a time of soaring rents in Oregon, especially in the Portland area. Under normal market conditions, renters would benefit from competition among landlords, who would limit hikes when the economy is booming and reduce rents when the economy is tight to make housing more affordable, the lawsuit said. But it said RealPage’s software stymies competition, something that Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said was against the law.
“RealPage’s use of its AI pricing algorithm effectively acts as a hub for property managers and landlords to share confidential, competitively sensitive information and to engage in a pricing alignment scheme to avoid competition,” Rosenblum said in a statement. “It undermines a fair rental market and constitutes a violation of Oregon and federal antitrust laws (the Sherman Act).”
Jennifer Bowcock, a RealPage spokesperson, said in a statement that the company would “vigorously” defend itself against the allegations. She said its revenue management software was built to be “legally compliant” and that the company had worked “constructively” with the Department of Justice for years and that in 2017, the agency had reviewed its software and not found anything objectionable.
“We believe the claims brought by DOJ are devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable,” Bowcock said.
The lawsuit names areas in 24 states – Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington – where at least 30% of property managers use RealPage’s software. In Oregon, they include 54,000 units in the Aloha-Beaverton area and in central Portland, where a one-bedroom, one-bath unit can cost more than $2,200 a month.
“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,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Rosenblum added that housing is a major concern in Oregon, where rents have soared in recent years.
“At a time when housing affordability is a top concern for Oregonians – and for countless Americans beyond our state’s borders – the issues of fairness and competition could not be more critical,” she said.
Besides Oregon, attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington joined the lawsuit.
The U.S. Department of Justice – joined by Oregon and other states – has also filed antitrust lawsuits against Amazon , and Meta, Facebook’s owner. In December, Google agreed to pay $700 million to resolve an antitrust suit involving its Play Store, and in March, the U.S. Department of Justice, Oregon and other states sued Apple , also claiming monopolistic behavior to stem competition.
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