Real estate giant Greystar and 25 other property management companies have agreed to collectively pay more than $141 million to settle a class action lawsuit accusing landlords of driving up housing costs by using rent-setting algorithms offered by the software company RealPage.
Greystar, the nation’s largest landlord, would pay $50 million under the proposed settlement agreement, which was filed Wednesday in a Tennessee federal court. The deal would still require a judge’s approval.
The companies have also agreed to no longer share nonpublic information with RealPage for its rent algorithm — a key stipulation, since plaintiffs say RealPage used that information to enable landlords to align their prices and push up rents.
“This represents a fundamental shift in the multifamily housing industry and will help reverse the type of anticompetitive coordination alleged in the Complaint,” attorneys wrote in the settlement filing.
All companies involved in the settlement deny wrongdoing and have agreed to help plaintiffs in the ongoing case against RealPage and more than a dozen other property management firms that have not reached settlements. RealPage and others are also fighting an antitrust lawsuit filed last year by the Department of Justice and several state attorneys general. Greystar reached a settlement in that case in August.
