US sues Cushman & Wakefield, different landlords over alleged rental value coordination

By Jody Godoy

(Reuters) -Cushman & Wakefield was amongst six massive landlords sued by the U.S. Division of Justice over alleged anticompetitive practices in housing rental markets on Tuesday, increasing the DOJ’s first case alleging algorithmic collusion.

The DOJ and a coalition of states sued in North Carolina in August, accusing property administration software program firm RealPage of letting landlords collude by sharing their pricing data with the corporate’s software program, which then recommends lease costs.

RealPage has denied the allegations, and is in search of to have the lawsuit dismissed.

The amended lawsuit additionally accuses Cushman, Greystar Actual Property Companions, Blackstone (NYSE:BX)’s LivCor, Camden Property (NYSE:CPT) Belief, Cushman’s Pinnacle Property Administration Providers and Willow Bridge Property Co. of utilizing RealPage to unlawfully share private details about rental pricing.

The landlords additionally shared pricing methods with opponents through calls and consumer teams hosted by RealPage, the DOJ stated.

A spokesperson for Cushman stated that Pinnacle is solely a property supervisor and doesn’t personal properties or set pricing.

Greystar denied partaking in anti-competitive practices and stated it could defend in opposition to the claims.

Cortland Administration has agreed to settle the claims, the DOJ stated.

“We consider we had been solely in a position to obtain this end result as a result of Cortland has invested years and vital inside assets into growing a proprietary income administration software program software that doesn’t depend on knowledge from exterior, private sources,” Cortland stated in a press release.

The opposite corporations didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Illinois and Massachusetts joined the lawsuit on Tuesday. The alleged coordination seemingly harmed renters in native housing markets in these states and California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington, in keeping with the lawsuit.