One of the primary products of property management software company RealPage is an algorithm-based pricing software, Yieldstar, marketed to property owners to set prices based on nearby rental listings. RealPage’s products have not escaped criticism or legislative notice.
In December 2024, the Biden administration released a report claiming that “anticompetitive pricing” in properties that utilize rent-setting algorithms has cost tenants an average of $70 a month, with a federal Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation launched under Biden still ongoing.
“Algorithmic pricing weakens competition because it can facilitate price coordination among landlords who would otherwise be competing,” stated the report. “Our analysis indicates that if price coordination was eliminated, there would be an economically meaningful decrease in price mark-ups for rental units using pricing algorithms.”
On Thursday May 29, 2025, Colorado Governor Jared Polis vetoed a bill that would have banned the use of price-setting algorithms within the state. The name of the bill, “No Pricing Coordination Between Landlords,” speaks to common criticisms of these algorithms that they allow anticompetitive collaboration between landlords in setting prices.
As reported by the Denver Post, RealPage praised the veto of the bill:
“We want to thank Governor Polis and the broad array of supporters of housing affordability who instead advocated for the responsible use of technology and tools like RealPage’s algorithmic pricing software to find fair pricing, ultimately benefiting all Coloradans.”
Will there be further attempts at regulating these algorithms? RISMedia spoke with Dr. Ken Johnson, a finance professor at the University of Mississippi and former real estate broker, who overall is quite skeptical of such efforts.
“I just think you can’t outlaw math,” said Johnson, who maintained that algorithms only help property owners/brokers achieve what’s always been their goal: maximized return via optimal vacancy.
“This isn’t that complex. There’s nothing that (price-setting algorithms) are doing mathematically that most people can’t do,” said Johnson. “They’re just faster at it. They’ve specialized in it and probably the AI approach is going to automate it a lot more quickly. But there’s no real new knowledge here. It’s just more timely.”
In his veto letter, per the Denver Post, Polis claimed that one reason for his decision is he prefers to wait until current judicial challenges to RealPage and algorithms such as Yieldstar are resolved.
The DOJ launched a civil antitrust lawsuit against RealPage in August 2024 (joined by the Attorneys General of eight states, including Colorado), due to its “unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing and to monopolize the market for commercial revenue management software that landlords use to price apartments,” per the DOJ’s press release.
While the DOJ closed a separate criminal investigation into RealPage and its price-setting algorithms in December 2024, the civil lawsuit remains ongoing. The DOJ filed an amended complaint in January 2025, naming six landlords as defendants, and with two more states joining as co-plaintiffs.
RealPage has consistently denied the allegations brought forth in these lawsuits, as have the landlord defendants in the DOJ lawsuit. Greystar, one of the landlords named in the DOJ lawsuit, stated in a release in January 2025 that:
“Greystar has and will conduct its business with the utmost integrity. At no time did Greystar engage in any anti-competitive practices. We will vigorously defend ourselves in this lawsuit.”
Johnson says that data used by these types of algorithmic programs actually creates market efficiencies.
“As an economist, I think this completes markets,” he says in his explanation for how price-setting algorithms give landlords vital information. “Imagine trying to sell your home without MLS information.
“What people do when they’re uncertain (is) overestimate cost and underestimate revenues,” says Johnson. “(Without all the information) I’m probably going to charge higher than normal rents. I can make that argument for higher rents because I have to make sure when I am successful, when I do have a vacancy, it’s offset by higher rents. If I can find that optimal level of rent, then perhaps I don’t need those higher rents.”
Asked about concerns that price-setting algorithms could be used for discriminatory purposes, Johnson expressed doubt because “people are into maximizing returns. Most businesses are not into social issues at this point in time.”
“If I’m making choices that run against public policy or statute or laws, but I’m simply making optimal economic decisions, I think it will lead to a lot of bad PR, but it will not lead to lawsuits or law(s) because it is one thing to discriminate against a particular group,” Johnson continues. “It’s another, if that group happens to be highly correlated with lower income or higher or lower credit scores. Will this happen? I don’t know.”
The national shadow hanging over the debates of price-setting algorithms’ futures has been the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” the current cornerstone of the Trump administration’s legislative agenda. One item in the bill has been a ban on state-level regulation of AI and algorithmic decision-making—the latest version of the bill that passed the Senate has removed this provision, but the bill still faces further votes and almost certain changes.
In his conversation with RISMedia, Johnson predicted that bans on price-setting algorithms will “probably run (their) course very much like rent control did a couple years ago,” i.e., some local implementations of laws without much national traction.
Where does the story stand now at the state level?
Ongoing legislative and judicial fronts in price-setting algorithm debate
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin (D) filed a separate lawsuit from the DOJ against RealPage and landlords operating in the state in April. Platkin claimed in a press release that the defendants’ actions have fueled the state’s housing affordability crisis.
New Jersey is not alone; states including California and Maryland are currently engaged in lawsuits against RealPage for alleged price-fixing.
In response to the New Jersey lawsuit, RealPage Senior Vice President of Communications and Creative Jennifer Bowcock made a statement that: “The claims brought by the New Jersey attorney general are devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable. New Jersey should stop scapegoating pro-competitive technology.”
Currently, RealPage is not only playing the part of the defendant in ongoing litigation—it has recently become a plaintiff as well.
In March 2025, Berkeley, California adopted—at the recommendation of the city’s Housing Advisory Commission—an ordinance to ban the use of algorithmic devices to set rents or manage properties in the city.
“A new type of rental software (often referred to as algorithmic devices) is increasing rents and vacancy rates by allowing large landlords to collude on pricing decisions,” claimed the Berkeley Housing Advisory Commission’s letter to the city’s mayor and city council. “While numerous lawsuits have been filed to prohibit such antitrust activities, these cases may take years to resolve. This ordinance prohibits the sale or use of algorithmic devices for the purpose of setting rents to bring immediate relief to Berkeley tenants.”
In response, RealPage filed a lawsuit to block Berkeley’s implementation of this ordinance, claiming the ban would constitute a violation of free speech rights under the first amendment. On June 24, the Berkeley City council voted unanimously to suspend the ordinance’s implementation until March 2026, so as to reduce legal costs incurred by the city and extend deadlines in the lawsuit.
The Bridge Association of REALTORS®, local to Berkeley, expressed opposition to the ban in an email response to RISMedia:
“Berkeley’s now-paused ban on rent-setting algorithms was performative and practically unenforceable. Tools like RealPage provide nothing more than optional data insights, and property owners remain free to set rents as they see fit. Banning software that informs business decisions does little to address the real issue: lack of housing supply.”
Berkeley is not the only area that has floated a ban on rent-setting software. In May 2025, San Diego, California’s city council passed a ban on using price-setting algorithms on units in the city and on selling such tools to San Diego landlords. The ban took effect on June 12, and in response, the California Apartment Association—which had opposed the measure—released a compliance paper designed to help local landlords better understand the law.
In contrast, a bill that would have enacted a price-setting algorithm ban in Portland, Oregon, was pulled back in April. The bill’s sponsor, Portland City Councilor Angelita Morillo, said (according to Portland news outlet Willamette Week) that she pulled the bill specifically to wait and see how the Berkeley ban litigation plays out. Morillo described her act as being done with “kind of a heavy heart” so it remains to be seen if the Portland bill could be reintroduced—and what path other cities considering such bans take.
