RICHARDSON, TEXAS — The U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has reached a settlement with RealPage Inc. as part of its ongoing enforcement against algorithmic coordination, information sharing and other anticompetitive practices in rental housing markets across the country, according to details disclosed in a North Carolina federal court on Monday.
The proposed consent judgment, which still requires court approval before it can be implemented, would help restore free market competition in rental markets for millions of American renters, the Justice Department stated in a press release.
“Competing companies must make independent pricing decisions, and with the rise of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools, we will remain at the forefront of vigorous antitrust enforcement,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Headquartered in Richardson, Texas, RealPage is a provider of revenue management software and services for the conventional multifamily rental housing industry.
In a civil antitrust claim filed in North Carolina in August 2024, the Justice Department and the attorneys general of eight states alleged that RealPage’s revenue management software relied on nonpublic, competitively sensitive information shared by landlords to set rental prices.
The plaintiffs also alleged that RealPage’s software included features designed to limit rental price decreases and otherwise align pricing among competitors. In addition, the plaintiffs claimed that RealPage hosted meetings attended by competing property management companies where competitively sensitive information was shared.
The Justice Department said that if the consent decree is approved by the court, it will require RealPage to:
- cease having its software use competitors’ nonpublic, competitively sensitive information to determine rental prices in runtime operation;
- cease using active lease data for purposes of training the models underlying the software, limiting model training to historic or backward-looking nonpublic data that has been aged for at least 12 months;
- not use models that determine geographic effects narrower than at a state level, which is broader than the markets alleged in the complaint;
- remove or redesign features that limited price decreases or aligned pricing between competing users of the software;
- cease conducting market surveys to collect competitively sensitive information;
- refrain from discussing market analyses or trends based on nonpublic data, or pricing strategies, in RealPage meetings relating to revenue management software
- accept a court-appointed monitor to ensure compliance with the terms of the consent judgment;
- cooperate in the United States’ lawsuit against property management companies that have used its software.
In a statement issued by RealPage, the company emphasized that the settlement provides resolution and clarity for RealPage customers and the broader multifamily industry, ensuring the company’s revenue management solutions remain fully available, legally compliant and aligned with evolving laws and policies. In short, there will be no disruption to customer operations as a result of the settlement.
RealPage also pointed out that the settlement resulted in no findings or admissions of liability. Furthermore, the agreement includes no financial penalties, damages or findings or admissions of wrongdoing.
“This resolution marks an important milestone for RealPage, our customers and the multifamily industry,” said Dirk Wakeham, RealPage president and CEO.
“Through it all, our teams remained focused on serving customers and advancing the technology the industry relies on every day. We are convinced that RealPage is part of the solution to addressing the cost of housing, helping operators make informed, independent decisions in a complex housing market,” added Wakeham.
Stephen Weissman, a partner with Gibson Dunn, legal counsel for RealPage in the antitrust lawsuit, said the resolution with the Justice Department was necessary to provide certainty and finality for RealPage and its customers to avoid protracted litigation.
“While we deny any wrongdoing, we appreciate the constructive engagement by DOJ (Department of Justice) and its willingness to bless the legality of RealPage’s prior and planned product changes under federal antitrust law through the consent decree,” said Weissman, former deputy director for the Federal Trade Commission.
“There has been a great deal of misinformation about how RealPage’s software works and the value it provides for both housing providers and renters,” added Weissman. “We believe that RealPage’s historical use of aggregated and anonymized nonpublic data, which include rents that are typically lower than advertised rents, has led to lower rents, less vacancies and more procompetitive effects.”
— Matt Valley