Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a bipartisan coalition of nine states filed a proposed $7 million settlement to resolve claims against Greystar Management Services LLC, as part of the coalition’s ongoing enforcement efforts targeting price fixing involving housing rental prices across the country. Greystar reached a non-monetary settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in August.
Greystar, the largest landlord in the United States, manages nearly 950,000 rental units nationwide. According to the states’ complaint, Greystar and other large landlords shared competitively sensitive data and relied on RealPage’s pricing algorithm to coordinate rent increases rather than competing independently. The complaint also alleges that Greystar and others discussed pricing strategies, rent levels, and parameters for RealPage’s software directly with one another—reducing competitive pressure and making rents higher than they otherwise would have been.
“We’re in the middle of a housing crisis, and families are already stretched to their limits,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “When the largest landlord in America uses an algorithm to price fix the rent, the result is simple: people pay more. It squeezes working families when the cost of housing is already at an all-time high. This settlement holds the largest U.S. landlord accountable. It’s a win for Oregonians, our pocketbooks, and the rule of law.”
In addition to the monetary payment to the states, the agreement, if approved by the court, would require Greystar to:
- Refrain from using any anticompetitive algorithm that generates pricing recommendations using competitors’ sensitive data or that incorporates certain anticompetitive features.
- Refrain from sharing competitively sensitive information with competitors.
- Accept a court-appointed monitor if it uses a third-party pricing algorithm that is not certified under the consent decree.
- Refrain from attending or participating in RealPage-hosted meetings of competing landlords.
- Cooperate with the coalition’s claims against RealPage.
Joining Attorney General Rayfield in reaching this settlement were the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee.
