Syllabus 1/22 - The Housing Algorithm Cartel
A conspiracy that might actually be real
The Source Code - [ Case 1:24-cv-00710 | The RealPage Complaint]
The raw DOJ/class-action legal complaint detailing how landlords used the RealPage algorithm to artificially inflate rents across the US. It contains the email chains proving collusion. Multiple lawsuits in multiple states are pending.
The Signal - “Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why”
It challenges the “Supply and Demand” myth. Supply was high, but price fixing via software kept rents up. This is the death of the free market via code.
(ProPublica)
https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent
The Tool - [OpenCorporates]
The world’s largest open database of companies. Use it to trace who actually owns the apartment complex you are renting from (often a shell company for a PE firm).
Paid Subscribers: Get the Deep Dive for this post - The "Eviction King" List
This is incredibly valuable. The part about supply being high but prices still climbing because of coordinated software decisions basicaly breaks the classic econ 101 framing people love to throw around. A few years back I was hunting for apartments and kept seeing nearly identical pricing across buildings that supossedly competed with each other, dunno why but always found it weird. Now it makes total sense.