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Algorithmic price-fixing of rents is here
Algorithmic collusion appears to be spreading to more and more industries. And existing laws may not be equipped to stop it.
The plaintiffs suing RealPage, including the Arizona and Washington, D.C., attorneys general, argue that this has enabled a critical mass of landlords to raise rents in concert, making an existing housing-affordability crisis even worse. In an interview with ProPublica, Jeffrey Roper, who helped develop one of RealPage’s main software tools, acknowledged that one of the greatest threats to a landlord’s profits is when nearby properties set prices too low. Last week, San Francisco passed a first-of-its-kind ordinance banning “both the sale and use of software which combines non-public competitor data to set, recommend or advise on rents and occupancy levels.”
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