BiasHigh
RealPage Algorithm Allegedly Inflates Rents and Reduces Competition in Housing Market
- Occurred
- Sep 1, 2016
- Published
- Nov 1, 2023
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
RealPage’s YieldStar pricing algorithm is at the center of allegations that it enabled landlords to coordinate rent increases by sharing nonpublic pricing and occupancy data, raising rents artificially and reducing competition. On January 7, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against six major landlords, alleging that they used the algorithm and other direct communication methods to stifle competition, harming renters nationwide.
Developers
- Thoma Bravo
- RealPage
- Jeffrey Roper
Deployers
- RealPage
Harmed parties
- Renters
Classification
Category confidence: 85%
Severity confidence: 90%
Rationale: Algorithmic collusion causing widespread housing market harm and DOJ antitrust lawsuit.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8