RealPage, Greystar, Other Landlords Agree to Settlement in DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit

By Eric Weld, MassLandlords, Inc.

RealPage, a national company that provides a suite of rental real estate software management tools, and three large rental real estate firms that use RealPage products, have settled a sweeping antitrust lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that had charged the companies with unfair practices in setting rents. Read details about the DOJ antitrust lawsuit.

This proposed final judgment, pending in a U.S. District Court in North Carolina, formalizes a settlement agreement between RealPage, Inc., and the federal Department of Justice, in which RealPage agrees to end its use of nonpublic and current lease data in its algorithm used for recommending rent prices for its property management customers. Among RealPage customers are Greystar, Willow Bridge, Cushman and Wakefield and LivCor, all of which manage rental properties in Massachusetts and joined RealPage as defendants in the DOJ suit. Greystar also settled with the DOJ in August 2025. Image: public domain.

The settlement is awaiting approval by the U.S. district court in North Carolina where it was filed.

Six national landlord firms, most of which manage properties in Massachusetts, were named, with RealPage, as defendants in the DOJ antitrust lawsuit, including Greystar Management Services, LLC, the nation’s largest rental real estate company, with thousands of properties in the Bay State. Greystar, headquartered in Charleston, S.C., manages nearly 950,000 properties nationwide. Joining Greystar as defendants in the DOJ antitrust suit are Blackstone’s LivCor, Camden Property Trust (no Massachusetts properties), Cushman and Wakefield, Inc., and Pinnacle Property Management Services, Willow Bridge Property Company, and Cortland Management (no Massachusetts properties). These six companies operate more than 1.3 million rental units in 43 states.

These companies are also among dozens of real estate firms sued in a parallel lawsuit brought by a coalition of 10 state attorneys general, including Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell. That action charges the firms with unfair and noncompetitive practices in their use of RealPage’s rent-recommending software, due to its algorithm that incorporated nonpublic and sensitive lease data. The companies are accused of illegally coordinating to artificially inflate rents for millions of renters. Greystar reached a settlement in that action in November 2025, agreeing to pay $7 million, $621,988 of which will go to Massachusetts.

Greystar also reached an agreement with the DOJ in early August. That agreement included no monetary damages, but banned the company’s use of anticompetitive or nonpublic data in setting rent prices, and ordered it to refrain from attending landlord meetings hosted by RealPage, and cooperate with a court-appointed monitor if it uses unapproved pricing algorithm products.

Cortland Management and Camden Property Trust have also agreed to similar settlements with the DOJ.

The DOJ and attorneys general lawsuits will continue for now. The DOJ suit moves on with remaining defendants Cushman, LivCor and Willow Bridge. Dozens of landlord companies are extending the court fight against 10 attorneys general.

Violation of Sherman Antitrust Act, Charges DOJ

RealPage, a company based in Richardson, Texas, provides a comprehensive array of high-tech property management tools to thousands of rental companies. One of those tools is its AI revenue management system that processes large quantities of data, including, at one point, active lease rent prices, lease transactions and other details to algorithmically generate optimal rent recommendations for its customers. Some of the data used to develop its rent-management algorithm are not public. A 2022 analysis by ProPublica reported that RealPage estimated its algorithm contains lease transaction data for more than 13 million rental units.

RealPage also regularly hosted work groups in which landlords would gather in private to discuss the industry, a red flag for federal antitrust investigators. ProPublica also found that before the DOJ charges, some of RealPage’s marketing language appeared anticompetitive and collusive. That language has since been scrubbed from RealPage’s website.

RealPage Agrees to Comply and Cooperate

As part of the RealPage settlement with the DOJ, the company agrees to:

• stop using nonpublic or sensitive information in its algorithm formulas to recommend rent prices;
• stop using active lease data in its software algorithms, and to only use backward-looking nonpublic data that is at least 12 months old;
• remove software features that deterred price decreases and/or aligned prices among its customers;
• stop collection of sensitive data through market surveys;
• stop discussing industry trends using nonpublic data during meetings relating to RealPage software;
• work with a court-appointed monitor to assure compliance with agreement terms; and
• cooperate with the DOJ in its ongoing antitrust lawsuit against remaining defendants.

The settlement imposes no monetary penalty on RealPage, and RealPage has not admitted to any wrongdoing.

In fact, though RealPage agrees to comply with DOJ antitrust regulations, the company has insisted all along that it was in compliance with Sherman Antitrust laws. The company has refuted the charge of antitrust practices and stated that it was being unfairly blamed for rent increases nationwide. Furthermore, RealPage notes that it voluntarily changed its algorithm formulas months ago, reflecting DOJ concerns, and that the lawsuit agreement only formalizes those changes.

Possibly unrelated to the DOJ lawsuit, RealPage appointed a new CEO in November 2025, less than three months after announcing its settlement. Dirk Wakeham, former president of RealPage, succeeded Dana Jones, who had served as RealPage’s president and CEO since 2021.

AI and Real Estate

The use of AI tools in managing rental properties is sure to continue expanding. RealPage recently introduced Lumina AI Workforce, a team of “digital agents” for handling a spectrum of landlord tasks such as leasing, facilities management, financing, daily operations, and even tenant support.

As AI tools continue to gain speed and sophistication, and expand across consumer markets, including real estate, monitoring the use and content of algorithmic data will become more complicated. Before the settlement, in refuting DOJ antitrust charges, RealPage pointed out that there are no regulations, either in the Sherman Antitrust Act or elsewhere, defining parameters of using AI and algorithms in formulating optimal rents or other lease recommendations.

Further settlements may follow the RealPage, Greystar and other agreements. More legal challenges may be in the offing.