How a Rent-Setting Algorithm Sparked a Nationwide Price-Fixing Lawsuit

An Algorithm Behind Skyrocketing Rents

It turns out that RealPage’s rent-setting software – known originally as YieldStar – has been a game-changer for big landlords. This Texas-based company developed an algorithm that analyzes a huge trove of data, including private info on what nearby apartments are charging.

Every day, it spits out recommended rents for each unit. The goal? Charge the highest rent tenants are likely to pay, even if that means some apartments stay empty longer. Landlords have praised how the algorithm “pushes you to go places that you wouldn’t have gone” on pricing, boosting profits beyond what human managers would attempt. 

In fact, one RealPage executive admitted their software was “driving” the recent double-digit rent increases – something few property managers would dare do manually.

Major apartment operators quickly embraced this data-driven approach. 

The nation’s largest property management firm, Greystar, uses RealPage’s system to price tens of thousands of its apartments, and RealPage boasted that Greystar’s buildings using the algorithm “outperformed their markets by 4.8%” even during a downturn. 

The software often recommends raising rents rather than lowering them for quick occupancy. It even discourages negotiating with renters and suggests that keeping some units vacant can be more profitable if the remaining tenants pay more. Property managers reportedly adopt about 90% of these algorithmic price recommendations, showing how influential the tool became across the industry.

Tenants and Regulators Cry Collusion

The situation exploded into public view in October 2022 when a bombshell ProPublica investigation suggested RealPage’s software was enabling collusion among landlords. The report raised alarm that the algorithm – with its pooling of private competitor data – created a “rent-setting cartel” that artificially propped up rents across entire cities. 

This encouraged renters and officials to push back. By early 2023, renters from across the country filed a class-action lawsuit accusing RealPage and several other property managers of conspiring to inflate rents using the software. The plaintiffs claim that dozens of large landlords shared confidential business information with RealPage and effectively coordinated their pricing in violation of antitrust laws. 

Three names stand out in this legal saga. 

First is RealPage itself – the tech provider that armed landlords with the pricing tool. Then there’s Greystar, the largest apartment manager in the U.S., which allegedly led the pack in using RealPage’s algorithm to raise rents. The third is Equity Residential, a major nationwide landlord. All three were named as key defendants. 

Renters allege these and other companies formed a high-tech “housing cartel” by relying on the same rent formulas and data. For example, D.C.’s Attorney General found that landlords in Washington shared sensitive rent data through RealPage and “operated as a housing cartel – illegally colluding to push rents even higher.”

The lawsuit quickly grew in scope. It was consolidated in federal court in Tennessee in 2023, and more than 40 property management firms were swept in. 

RealPage and the other defendants denied any wrongdoing, insisting that using a sophisticated pricing tool isn’t the same as an illegal pact. RealPage argued that rents rose because of market forces like housing shortages, not because of its software. Still, regulators took notice. 

In late 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a separate antitrust case after a nearly two-year investigation. State authorities piled on too – from Nevada to Washington D.C., attorneys general sued RealPage and landlords, echoing the collusion claims. 

The pressure was on from all sides, and the industry’s experiment with algorithm-driven pricing was now officially on trial in the court of law and public opinion.

Settlements Shake the Industry (and What’s Next)

Facing mounting evidence and legal risk, many of the accused landlords decided to settle rather than fight to end. 

In October 2025, 27 property managers and owners – including heavyweights like Greystar – reached a tentative deal to resolve the class-action case for a combined $141.8 million. According to court filings, the settling landlords will:

• Stop sharing secret rent data with RealPage or any similar platform for at least five years. No more feeding private lease info into a combined database that could be used to sync prices.
• Avoid using rent algorithms that rely on competitors’ non-public data to set prices. In other words, they can still use pricing software, but not one that acts as a hub for collusive data-sharing.
• Cooperate with investigators in the ongoing lawsuit against any remaining defendants. This means turning over documents, sitting for depositions, and helping make the case against those who haven’t settled.

Essentially, the settlements aim to ensure that each landlord goes back to setting rents on their own, rather than through a shared algorithmic brain. 

So who’s still left fighting? Notably, RealPage itself has not settled and continues to contest the claims. About 20 defendants remain in the class-action suit, including big-name landlord Equity Residential. RealPage insists its revenue management products have “always been legal,” and it “does not anticipate needing to make any changes” to the software as a result of the settlements. 

In fact, under scrutiny, RealPage had already tweaked its algorithm in 2024 – it stopped using any one client’s private data to calculate another client’s rent recommendation. The company maintains that it’s being scapegoated for broader market problems like housing shortages. 

RealPage’s lawyer even suggested they’re prepared to argue that their rent suggestions are information sharing protected by the First Amendment. 

Meanwhile, government watchdogs have extracted their own promises. Greystar struck a deal with federal prosecutors in August 2025, agreeing to limit data-sharing and to cooperate in the DOJ’s case. 

RealPage also settled a lawsuit with the state of Nevada, agreeing to new safeguards on how it uses rent data (for example, only using competitor data that’s at least 3 months old and aggregated from many properties).