U.S. sues RealPage, alleges collusion to keep rents high

  • 2 months ago
TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and why the DOJ is going after RealPage.

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Transcript
00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here's what we're watching on the street today.
00:04Stocks rallied after a clear message from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
00:09Quote, the time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear and the timing and pace of rate cuts will
00:17depend on incoming data. Wall Street has fully priced in a quarter percentage point rate cut at the upcoming September meeting.
00:24Inflation watchers will be on guard next week with the release of the personal consumption expenditures index for July, the Fed's preferred
00:32inflation gauge.
00:33In other news, the Justice Department and eight states are going after RealPage, a real estate software company, for allegedly aiding in rent
00:41gouging and collusion. The antitrust lawsuit claims that RealPage's software accumulates
00:48confidential data on rent prices provided by landlords who pay to use the service.
00:53Then, an algorithm uses the data to come up with a number and how much rent landlords should collect for their properties.
01:00The suggested rent is typically higher than it would be if the landlords were competing against one another on price,
01:07according to the lawsuit.
01:09Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, quote,
01:12Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law.
01:19In this defense, a spokeswoman from RealPage described the algorithm as revenue management software that is, quote,
01:27purposely built to be legally compliant.
01:30Stubbornly high rents have been a complaint for Americans, turning it into a hot-button political issue, according to Zillow. Between
01:382019 and 2023, rental prices surged 20 percent.
01:43That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange. I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.

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