U.S. sues RealPage, alleges collusion to keep rents high

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and why the DOJ is going after RealPage.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:04Stocks rallied after a clear message from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

00:09Quote, the time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear and the timing and pace of rate cuts will

00:17depend on incoming data. Wall Street has fully priced in a quarter percentage point rate cut at the upcoming September meeting.

00:24Inflation watchers will be on guard next week with the release of the personal consumption expenditures index for July, the Fed's preferred

00:32inflation gauge.

00:33In other news, the Justice Department and eight states are going after RealPage, a real estate software company, for allegedly aiding in rent

00:41gouging and collusion. The antitrust lawsuit claims that RealPage's software accumulates

00:48confidential data on rent prices provided by landlords who pay to use the service.

00:53Then, an algorithm uses the data to come up with a number and how much rent landlords should collect for their properties.

01:00The suggested rent is typically higher than it would be if the landlords were competing against one another on price,

01:07according to the lawsuit.

01:09Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, quote,

01:12Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law.

01:19In this defense, a spokeswoman from RealPage described the algorithm as revenue management software that is, quote,

01:27purposely built to be legally compliant.

01:30Stubbornly high rents have been a complaint for Americans, turning it into a hot-button political issue, according to Zillow. Between

01:382019 and 2023, rental prices surged 20 percent.

01:43That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange. I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.