A federal judge has refused to toss out antitrust claims accusing RealPage and a group of property-management companies of conspiring to push rents higher using landlords' confidential pricing data, a ruling that keeps a sprawling multistate legal fight alive heading into its third year. The decision landed as California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general pressed forward with their case, arguing the software company and its landlord partners tried to dodge accountability and lost.
Judge Rejects Bid to Dismiss the Case
District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. declined to dismiss the case against RealPage and the landlords, according to mlex.com, which reported that RealPage and property management companies must face US antitrust claims brought by state attorneys general. The court found a plausible conspiracy among RealPage and the landlords to contribute confidential data, the outlet reported, with allegations that landlords chose RealPage's AI revenue-management product over rival software specifically because coordinated pricing with competitors led to higher rents.
On X, Bonta cheered the outcome, writing that RealPage misused pricing information to take the competition out of the rental industry, leaving renters to pay inflated prices, and then attempted to evade responsibility. He added that this week, the court agreed with California and the bipartisan coalition of attorneys general and ordered the case to continue, a post shared from his account under the handle @agrobbonta.
What the Lawsuits Allege About RealPage's Software
The underlying claims describe a system in which landlords fed RealPage sensitive business details, then let the company's algorithm steer their pricing decisions. According to the Oregon Department of Justice, the lawsuit says RealPage broke antitrust laws by collecting private information from landlords and using it to drive up rent prices, including what properties were charging, what discounts they offered, and which units were about to become available for rent.
The software allegedly didn't stop at recommendations. The Oregon Department of Justice notes that RealPage pushed property managers to accept those pricing recommendations automatically. A separate court filing, cited by VitalLaw, describes a complaint alleging the software reduced landlords' willingness to negotiate, recommended price increases whenever competitors raised their own prices, and could limit the number of units offered when demand was weak.
A Landlord's Rent Spike After Adopting the Software
Prosecutors have pointed to specific numbers to illustrate the alleged effect. One landlord told RealPage it had increased rents within a week of adopting the software and, within 11 months, had raised them more than 25%, according to ProPublica. That figure has become a touchstone in the broader case against the company, which traces back to a federal antitrust complaint the Biden Justice Department filed against RealPage in 2024.
The legal fight has since widened well beyond the original complaint. Oregon, several other states and the Justice Department sued RealPage in 2024, and the following January, Oregon and a coalition of other states sued several large landlords accused of sharing information through RealPage to keep rents higher than they would be in a competitive market, per the Oregon Department of Justice. Oregon is suing RealPage alongside California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee, the agency says.
Settlement Resolves Federal Claims, Not State Ones
Not every piece of the litigation is still contested. Under a federal settlement entered in May, RealPage agreed to stop having its software use competitors' nonpublic and competitively sensitive information to determine rental prices, according to VitalLaw's account of the proceedings. ProPublica reported separately that the proposed settlement would require RealPage to stop offering software that uses that kind of nonpublic, competitively sensitive data to recommend rents, and to remove or redesign features that restrict rent decreases or align pricing among competitors. ProPublica also reported the deal did not include an admission of wrongdoing or financial penalties, a detail RealPage confirmed to the outlet.
But that settlement only closed part of the case. The court found the remaining claims are not moot, VitalLaw reported, meaning RealPage's federal settlement did not wipe out the states' Sherman Act claims or their requests for injunctive relief. State claims against RealPage and Pinnacle Property Management Services remain pending, the outlet noted, along with state and federal claims against Camden Property Trust and Willow Bridge Property Company.
Part of a Broader Crackdown on Algorithmic Pricing
RealPage isn't the only company facing this kind of scrutiny. A bipartisan group of states separately reached a $7 million settlement with LivCor, in which that company agreed to stop using other landlords' private data to set rents, according to the Oregon Department of Justice. The Justice Department has also sued six large landlords, accusing them of using algorithmic software to coordinate and raise rents, ProPublica reported.
For Bonta's office, the ruling keeping the case alive is framed as validation of a yearslong push against pricing software that regulators say has reshaped rental markets without tenants' knowledge. The attorney general's office has signaled it intends to keep working to hold RealPage and the landlords accountable, and described itself as committed to tackling anticompetitive conduct that it says illegally increases Californians' cost of living.
