Greystar, which manages nearly 950,000 apartments, has agreed to stop using “anti-competitive” algorithms to suggest rents. ProPublica previously showed how such software lets landlords set rents in a way that could result in cartel-like behavior.| ProPublica
I cover commercial space companies and the federal agencies that work with and regulate them, like the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA.| ProPublica
Texas-based RealPage worked with some of the nation’s largest landlords to create a cartel to raise rents, says a lawsuit filed just days after ProPublica published its investigation into the company.| ProPublica
The DOJ will examine whether RealPage helped landlords coordinate rent increases. Questions also swirl around a 2017 merger deal with its largest competitor.| ProPublica
Powerful interests, including a real estate tech company and private equity firms, are contributing to soaring rents.| ProPublica
The lawsuit, which comes in the wake of a ProPublica investigation into the Texas company, accuses RealPage of taking part in an illegal price-fixing scheme to reduce competition among landlords to boost prices — and profits.| ProPublica
Sen. Amy Klobuchar and other leading Democrats have asked the Department of Justice to examine Texas-based RealPage, which sells software to help landlords set apartment rental prices across the country.| ProPublica
RealPage has come under increasing fire from lawmakers and lawyers after ProPublica reported on its software’s potentially anti-competitive effects. Student housing is implicated.| ProPublica
After a ProPublica investigation, U.S. senators introduced a bill to curb “price fixing” linked to rent-setting software. “Setting prices with an algorithm is no different from doing it over cigars and whiskey in a private club,” said one sponsor.| ProPublica
A ProPublica investigation last year about RealPage’s rent-setting software led to federal lawsuits asserting inflated apartment prices.| ProPublica
Amid a national housing crisis, giant private equity firms have been buying up apartment buildings en masse to squeeze them for profit, with the help of government-backed Freddie Mac. Meanwhile, tenants say they’re the ones paying the price.| ProPublica
Texas-based RealPage’s YieldStar software helps landlords set prices for apartments across the U.S. With rents soaring, critics are concerned that the company’s proprietary algorithm is hurting competition.| ProPublica