RealPage, a property management software company, has been thrust into a legal quagmire as it faces multiple lawsuits and a reported federal criminal probe related to allegations of rental price fixing. In an effort to counteract the negative narrative, RealPage has launched a microsite and a digital booklet titled “The Real Story”, aiming to dispel what it terms as “false and misleading claims” about its software.
The company’s six-page digital booklet, published in mid-June, argues that the software benefits both renters and landlords by increasing competition. RealPage asserts that landlords accept its rent recommendations less than 50 percent of the time, emphasizing that these suggestions are designed to help fill vacant units at competitive prices.
However, industry stakeholders remain skeptical. Alexandra Alvarado, Director of Marketing and Education at the American Apartment Owners Association, states that some landlords are now questioning the legality of such revenue management software. “If landlords believe there might be legal repercussions, they are likely to avoid the technology,” she said.
RealPage’s President and CEO, Dana Jones, echoed a similar defensive tone in a recent statement, urging a swift resolution to what he called “false claims” about the company’s revenue management software. According to a report from Politico, the Justice Department is allegedly planning to sue RealPage, although the company has declined to comment on the specifics of the ongoing investigation.
RealPage has been under scrutiny since a ProPublica investigation in late 2022 linked its software to rising rent prices in various U.S. cities. Despite RealPage asserting that it uses aggregated market data in a compliant manner, antitrust enforcers stress that even sharing private data for price recommendations can be considered as conspiratorial as traditional collusion tactics.
The broader implications of this legal challenge are significant given the current housing market. As of April 2024, typical rents in the U.S. approached $2,000, according to Zillow, up from around $1,500 in early 2020. While RealPage claims that housing affordability issues are shaped by broader economic and political forces rather than by its software, renters still face uncertainty around what is driving rent increases.