Eugene landlords Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC were named in a United States Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit for an alleged scheme to decrease competition in apartment pricing.
The lawsuit, originally filed against software company RealPage in August 2024, was amended on Jan. 7 to include six of the largest landlords in the country, including Greystar, for their alleged involvement in algorithmic pricing schemes.
According to its website, RealPage is a technology platform for real estate owners and managers. RealPage serves over 24 million units worldwide.
RealPage provides real estate owners with a suite of products that aim to help manage property operations including automation of renting, leasing, sales and marketing. The company states their services “optimize rents to achieve the highest overall yield.”
The DOJ however alleges that RealPage used their products to collude with apartment developers to provide valuable otherwise private information of apartment management companies including occupancy rates and rental prices to other competing management companies.
The practice allegedly allowed the companies to collectively raise rent at a similar pace, effectively price gouging residents who had little choice but to pay the increased rates.
“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,” the complaint read.
According to the release, together the six accused landlords own more than 1.3 million units in 43 different states. Greystar operates 11 apartment complexes in Eugene, including student housing building Union on Broadway — a 357-unit apartment complex near the University of Oregon campus.
When reached for comment by the Emerald, Brunswick Group associate Deirdre Walsh directed the Emerald to a statement issued on the company’s website that stated it was “disappointed” that the DOJ named the company in suit.
“Greystar has and will conduct its business with the utmost integrity. At no time did Greystar engage in any anti-competitive practices,” the statement read. “We will vigorously defend ourselves in this lawsuit.”
Participation in this scheme harmed “millions of American renters,” according to the DOJ’s press release.
Antitrust laws are regulations that prevent companies from colluding to limit competition and choices in a market. These laws ensure that consumers have access to fair pricing and a sufficient supply of goods, including apartments.
The complaint alleges that landlords communicated with competitors’ about sensitive occupancy information.
According to the release, Greystar provided information about renewal rates and their approach to pricing with Camden Property Trust — a competitor and another landlord named in the lawsuit. Camden, in turn, allegedly communicated with a third company named in the lawsuit, Blackstone’s LivCor LLC, about price increases.
The complaint also alleges that landlords used calls, emails and user groups hosted by the RealPage software to discuss information regarding rent, pricing strategies, discount and how to modify the software’s pricing methodology. These calls and emails were indirectly referred to as “market surveys.”
An example provided from the press release states that Greystar provided its “standard auto-accept parameters for RealPage’s software” at the request of Willow Bridge, another competitor and named company in the complaint.
As alleged in the complaint, RealPage built a function that automatically accepts price recommendations created by RealPage’s pricing software, YieldStar.
According to the complaint, license agreements identify the data being shared as confidential and nonpublic. RealPage then takes this information and uses it to process rent price recommendations to competitors.
The justice department has proposed a consent decree for one of the named companies, Cortland Management LLC, that, if approved by the court, would resolve the claims against the company. A consent decree is a settlement that resolves a dispute between two parties without admission of guilt or liability.
If Cortland agrees, they would cooperate in investigation and litigation and be barred from using competitors’ data to train pricing models and using softwares to price apartments without a court monitor.
“Today’s action against RealPage and six major landlords seeks to end their practice of putting profits over people and make housing more affordable for millions of people across the country,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said about the complaint.
In its introduction, the complaint states that Greystar has built a business out of countering the benefits of competition for renters.
