New Jersey sued the property management software company RealPage, accusing it and 10 of the state’s largest landlords of conspiring to drive up residential rents, violating federal and state antitrust laws and New Jersey consumer fraud laws.
The complaint filed on Wednesday by state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said the defendants, including AvalonBay Communities, illegally used RealPage’s revenue management software and algorithms to inflate rents for apartments in multifamily properties.
New Jersey said the defendants also quietly exchanged non-public data such as lease prices, amenities, concessions offered, property values and housing inventory, in order to align pricing and avoid competition to lower rents.
The state said the collusion has inflated rents for hundreds of thousands of residents, with half of low-income renters paying more than 30 per cent of their gross incomes toward rent. Many real estate and financial experts recommend a 30 per cent limit.
“This lawsuit is about putting a stop to corporate greed at its worst,” said Jeremy Hollander, acting director of New Jersey’s division of consumer affairs. “The housing market in New Jersey is already stacked in favor of landlords but the defendants wanted more.”
RealPage, based in Richardson, Texas, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has said its pricing software sometimes recommends lowering rents instead of raising rents, and leaves decision making to landlords.
AvalonBay, based in Arlington, Virginia, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction, civil penalties, the recouping of illegal profit and the appointment of a monitor to prevent more wrongdoing.
New Jersey sued eight months after the U.S. Department of Justice and eight other states also sued RealPage over its algorithms.
On April 2, RealPage sued the city of Berkeley, California, calling an ordinance against using algorithms to set rents an unconstitutional restriction on content-based speech, violating the First Amendment.
The case is Platkin et al v RealPage Inc, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 25-03057.
