Rents in Portland have soared in recent years, causing some pushback by residents. (Getty Images)
Oregon’s attorney general has joined other states, the District of Columbia and federal government in an antitrust lawsuit against a company selling property management software that recommends rental prices.
The lawsuit against Texas-based RealPage accused the company of gathering confidential rental data from more than 16 million units nationwide to create software that enables landlords to coordinate prices rather than compete. It said that RealPage has a monopoly in the rental management software, controlling at least 80% of that market.
“Its dominant position is protected by substantial data advantages due to its massive reservoir of ill-gotten competitively sensitive information from competing landlords,” the lawsuit said. “RealPage replaces competition with coordination. It substitutes unity for rivalry. It subverts competition and the competitive process. It does so openly and directly – and American renters are left paying the price.”