Washington's eyes are trained on Arizona where Rep. Ruben Gallego has thrown down the gauntlet, directly urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to dive into allegations of rent price fixing in the state. Gallego, pulling no punches, has tagged RealPage, a software behemoth serving up to 90% of the U.S. multifamily housing market, as a main actor in what could be an illegal manipulation of rental prices, according to a letter acquired by his official website. Describing a behind-the-scenes pact, he rattles the chains of rumored collusion that these rental juggernauts use RealPage's software to crank up rents, hitting working families the hardest. "The resulting coordinated rent increases on the majority of available rental properties potentially amounts to price-fixing," Gallego pointed out.
In the same vein, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, standing behind her own February suit, laid charges against RealPage and several landlords for their participation in what her office labels an "illegal price-fixing conspiracy." As reported by ABC15, Mayes targeted landlords like Apartment Management Consultants (AMC), Greystar Management Services, and HSL Properties, implicating them in artificially inflating rents and contributing to an affordable housing crisis in Arizona's largest cities. Residents, struggling underneath, are speculated to have forked out millions more than necessary due to these anticompetitive behaviors.
Brushing off any subtlety, Gallego has also shed light on RealPage's stranglehold on pricing, stating "close to 90% of pricing recommendations are adopted." With average Phoenix dwellers paying an inflated 12% in rent for RealPage-priced units, this is a wallets-out scenario that demands attention. Gallego's letter underscores the FTC's hefty weight in antitrust law—the power to enforce rules against these companies squeezing the public. The knot of these two issues, affordability and legality, is tightening.
This action marks another determined stride in Gallego's broader campaign to combat sky-high housing costs and champion Arizona consumers. Alongside applauding the FTC's move to thwart the Kroger and Albertsons merger, which he vocally opposed, he recently convened two roundtables on increasing accessible housing and addressing homelessness. The gauntlet thrown by Gallego, is not merely in words, his actions indicate a continual fight, according to his office.
