RealPage has filed suit against the Berkeley, California, regarding the city's ban on the software firm's “sale or use of pricing algorithms to set rents or manage occupancy levels for residential dwelling units.”
RealPage claims that the ordinance is “sweeping and unconstitutional” and that it “bans lawful speech.” It further claims that the city’s action was “prompted by an intentional campaign of misinformation and often-repeated false claims about the company’s revenue management software.”
The company seeks a judgment and injunction against the order that and it states that it “seeks to prohibit the use of math and publicly available information to provide advice or recommendations to its customers who own and manage rental housing properties.”
RealPage told GlobeSt.com that it had no further comment beyond its press release.
“Berkeley is trying to enact an ordinance that prohibits speech — speech in the form of advice and recommendations from RealPage to its customers,” RealPage attorney Stephen Weissman told reporters on a conference call as the Associated Press reported. AP also noted that officials in many cities claim the practice is driving up the price of housing.
RealPage claims that the reason for high rental prices is a lack of housing supply. Various CRE industry data from the last two years suggests, as GlobeSt.com has reported, that unusually high unit construction brought occupancy rates down and rent rate growth up.
Now known as Municipal Code Chapter 13.63, the ordinance passed on an eight-to-one vote during the March 25, 2025, Berkeley City Council Meeting. The ban is currently set to go into effect on April 24, 2025.
The lawsuit is the latest development in ongoing charges, legal actions, and claims involving RealPage’s software. This started in 2022, when ProPublica wrote an article about it, claiming that many property managers are “gushed about how the company’s algorithm boosts profits.”
October 2022 saw a class action antitrust lawsuit filed in U.S. district court on behalf of renters in California and Washington state. The suit named nine property management firms and accused them of using RealPage's platform to illegally share "competitively sensitive information" with one another.
"The ProPublica article contains inaccuracies and is misleading,” RealPage said in a statement provided to GlobeSt.com at the time. “RealPage completely disagrees with its conclusions."
A second federal class action suit, filed in November 2022, accused RealPage and several student housing operators of conspiring to "artificially inflate" the price of student housing in the US.
Then came a Justice Department price-fixing lawsuit against RealPage in August 2024. The DOJ broadened the scope of the action in early 2025, adding more major apartment owners.
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