TENNESSEE JOINS SETTLEMENT TO STOP GREYSTAR’S RENT-INFLATING REALPAGE SCHEME
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced that the state has joined a bipartisan, multistate settlement with Greystar Management Services, LLC, the nation’s largest property management company, to address allegations of anticompetitive practices that artificially inflated rental prices for residents.
The settlement stems from Greystar’s use of RealPage’s revenue management software, which enabled property managers to share sensitive supply and pricing data with competitors, reducing competition and aligning rents at higher levels in the multifamily housing market. Greystar, which manages nearly 950,000 units nationwide including over 6,000 in Tennessee, reached a separate non-monetary agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in August.
Under the proposed consent decree, if approved by the court, Greystar will be prohibited from using anticompetitive pricing algorithms that rely on competitors’ data, sharing sensitive information with rivals, participating in certain RealPage-hosted meetings, and, in some cases, accepting a court-appointed monitor for third-party pricing tools, while also cooperating with ongoing litigation against RealPage and other management companies.
Tennessee joined California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Oregon in the coalition that secured the agreement, which Skrmetti described as a critical step to stop companies from unfairly driving up rents through coordinated data-sharing.
