Florida Rent Crisis Exposed: Parent Company Among 6 Landlord Barons Sued in Price Gouging Scheme

Ft. Lauderdale Architecture, Society Las Olas. Apartment building located at end of Riverwalk. Cover photo for illustrative purposes only. Photo by Rob Olivera | Flickr

Officials with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and its state co-plaintiffs have announced an amended lawsuit against RealPage, accusing the company and six major landlord parent companies of manipulating rental prices through an algorithmic pricing scheme that has contributed to the nation's growing housing and rental crisis.

According to the January 7, 2025 lawsuit announcement, the complaint alleges that Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC (Greystar), Blackstone's LivCor LLC (LivCor), Camden Property Trust (Camden), Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and Pinnacle Property Management Services (Cushman), Willow Bridge Property Company LLC (Willow Bridge), and Cortland Management LLC (Cortland), participated in an unlawful scheme meant to decrease competition among landlords in the apartment pricing market.

If this is the first time you've heard of them, you may be initially asking who, or what, even is RealPage?

RealPage provides software solutions for the real estate industry with a primary focus on property management, leasing, and pricing — much of which can be done without any manual human intervention. However, criticisms against RealPage have been mounting as it faces legal scrutiny due to its use of algorithmic pricing. These algorithms, while intended to improve profitability for management companies, have been accused of enabling price-fixing by allowing landlords to share sensitive competitive data, potentially violating antitrust laws, and keeping rents artificially higher than they could be.

Willow Bridge, a parent company that offers apartments for rent in 60 different communities across the Sunshine State's metropolitan areas including Orlando, Tampa Bay, and Miami, together with the five other major landlords, operates a combined total of more than 1.3 million units across 43 states and the District of Colombia.

The DOJ's amended complaint against RealPage alleges that the six landlords co-conspired to set their rents in similar price ranges using each other's competitively sensitive information. Along with using RealPage's anticompetitive pricing algorithms, these landlords are alleged to have coordinated through a myriad of other means that harmed millions of American renters who struggle to pay for and find affordable housing.

DOJ Officials state that the landlords directly communicated with competitor's senior managers about rents, occupancy, and other competitively sensitive topics. In one example, Greystar supplied Camden with information not only about their recent renewal rates, but also its approach to pricing for the upcoming quarter. Executives at Camden and LivCor also communicated over the course of months about their pricing strategies, including their price increase plans.

Additionally, these parent companies participated in regular call-arounds. During these discussions, which they euphemistically referred to as "market surveys," property managers called or emailed their competition to share, and sometimes discuss in detail, competitively sensitive information about rent rates, occupancy, pricing strategies, and the offering, or lack of, rental agreement discounts.

The six landlord giants are also alleged to have participated in user groups hosted by RealPage, discussing how to modify the software's pricing methodology, as well as their own pricing strategies. In one example, LivCor and Willow Bridge execs discussed renewal increases, concessions, and acceptance rates of RealPage rent recommendations.

At the request of Willow Bridge's director of revenue management, Greystar's revenue management director supplied its standard auto-accept parameters for RealPage's software, including the daily and weekly limits, as well as the days of the week for which Greystar used the auto-accept feature.

“While Americans across the country struggled to afford housing, the landlords named in today’s lawsuit shared sensitive information about rental prices and used algorithms to coordinate to keep the price of rent high,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s action against RealPage and six major landlords seeks to end their practice of putting profits over people and make housing more affordable for millions of people across the country.”

The Justice Department also announced a proposed consent decree that, if approved by the court, would resolve its claims against Cortland, a landlord agency that manages over 80,000 rental units in 13 states. Under the proposed consent decree, Cortland would cooperate in the Justice Department’s investigation and litigation and be barred from, among other things:

• Using competitors’ competitively sensitive data to train or run any pricing models;
• Using third-party software or algorithms to price apartments without the supervision of a court-appointed representative to monitor its selections, and
• Soliciting, disclosing or using any competitively sensitive information with any other property manager as part of setting rental prices or generating rental pricing recommendations.

As required by the Tunney Act, the above proposed consent decree, along with the competitive impact statement, will soon be published in the Federal Register. Any person has the opportunity to submit written comments concerning the proposed consent decree during a 60-day comment period to Chief, Technology, and Digital Platforms Section, Antitrust Division, Department of Justice located at 450 Fifth Street NW, Suite 8600 in Washington D.C.; at the conclusion of the comment period, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina may enter the final judgement as they find it in the public's best interest.

The landlord parties named in the amended lawsuit are headquartered as follows:

• Greystar is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina;
• LivCor and Cushman & Wakefield (whose residential property management business formerly operated independently as Pinnacle) are headquartered in Chicago;
• Willow Bridge (formerly known as Lincoln Residential) is headquartered in Dallas;
• Camden is headquartered in Houston; and
• Cortland is headquartered in Atlanta.

All the landlord parent companies manage multifamily apartment buildings; several own some or all of the properties under their management — contributing to a wide-spread rental crisis across the county, as well as in the Sunshine State.

While the housing and rental crisis is a common topic of discussion and contention across the nation, in Florida, where rental prices have skyrocketed, the impact of these pricing schemes is particularly stark. In places like Clearwater and Tampa Bay, families are struggling to cope with relentless rent hikes.

One couple shared with Uncovering Florida their heartbreaking situation at a Willow Bridge-managed property, The Pointe. The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, privately provided Uncovering Florida with their rental information for a 750 square foot apartment they've occupied at the complex since 2019. The couple says their rent has increased every year since they moved in, and they see no end in sight.

The 1 bed, 1 bath unit that went for $975 in 2019 now goes for a staggering $1,500 in 2025 — a $525 increase in just six years for their un-renovated unit that the couple says they're struggling to pay, but they are also not finding anything cheaper in the Tampa Bay area that will allow them to bring their beloved senior dog with them.

"We're basically gonna have to choose between a smaller more affordable apartment that doesn't accept pets, or keeping our 11-year-old dog and being homeless next year when we inevitably price out of our unit when they up the rent again," the 30-year-old Clearwater woman told Uncovering Florida through tears.

"Moving back in with either of our parents is not really an option." the woman continued. "Our families do own small homes, but they don't have the space for us to move in so we can save for a different place, and they don't make enough to be able to help us with any moving costs. With rent this high, we can't really feasibly save for the security deposit somewhere else on our current income anyway, even if we could find a place cheaper that'll let us keep her."

The couple further stated that they were unsure of what to do, and were considering living out of their car if it came down to it, a 2013 Chevy Malibu.

As of publication, other apartments at the Willow Bridge-managed property show a similar high price point, with a 975 square foot, 2 bed, 2 bath unrenovated unit starting at $1,933 and running upwards of $2,055 for their mid-tier renovated option. The Pointe website's floorplan page does not list prices for their most premium units, prompting prospective renters to contact them for pricing. Uncovering Florida did not receive an immediate response for comment from The Pointe about the pricing for their premium unit offerings.

The severe housing-cost burden for families in Florida and across the country has been on the rise. Data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness shows that the number of households paying more than 50% of their income on rent has seen a dramatic increase, rising over 12.6% in just 7 years. Those of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and other minority races are most greatly impacted.

According to data from SoFi, the average gross salary in Florida as of 2024 is $48,966 per person, with the median household income hovering around $73,311 as listed by the United States Census Bureau for the State of Florida. If an individual in Florida made what is considered to be a livable wage for the state at $69,000 annually as a single income household, they would be paying more than half their monthly income on their rent alone to live at The Pointe.

Approximately 12.3% of Floridians live below the federal poverty line for their household size according to the most recent survey data from the United States Census Bureau — which is only .2% less than the national population's poverty percentage of 12.5%. That's an estimated minimum of 2.6 million Floridians struggling to make ends meet and find affordable housing.

Current federal poverty guidelines, last updated as of January 17, 2024, state that a 2-person household that makes more than $20,440 annually may also no longer be eligible for government assistance programs such as Housing Assistance, Earned Income Tax Credit, SSI, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Child Care and Development Fund, Low Income Home Energy Assistance, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance, Food Stamps through SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, adding to the financial struggles that American families face.

Federal poverty guidelines and current poverty data support a saddening statistic for homelessness in the Sunshine State as well. The Florida Department of Health estimates that there are a total of 31,462 homeless across the state as of the end of 2024 — an increase from 30,809 in 2023.

Approximately 15 people per 10,000 residents are homeless in Florida state-wide, with the most recent annual report from the Florida Department of Children and Families stating that about 24% of homeless people who don't have any form of shelter are families with children. The Tampa-St. Peterburg metro area at one point had the highest rate of homelessness in the country at 57 homeless for every 10,000 residents, according to a report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. They say about one-fifth of the homeless population in the Tampa Bay area are children.

Homeless counts have also reached a record high in the National Alliance to End Homelessness' most recent report. A devastating 653,104 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January of 2023, a more than 12% increase over the previous year. Of the 653,104 homeless in January of 2023, a record-high 256,610 people, or 39.3% of all people experiencing homelessness, had no shelter. More people than ever are experiencing homelessness for the first time as well. The number of people who entered an emergency shelter for the first time increased more than 23% in 2023.

Though this lawsuit may not solve all of Florida's, or the nation's, affordable housing issues, it represents a significant step toward holding powerful entities accountable, and ensuring that renters are no longer at the mercy of price-gouging algorithms. If successful, the case could lead to major changes in how rental prices are set across the county, offering hope to millions of Americans struggling to afford a place to live.

If you are a family, or know someone else, experiencing difficulty paying for housing or struggling with homelessness in the state of Florida, resources are available. A directory from the Florida Department of Children and Families can connect people in need with local service providers that may be able to assist in reobtaining a roof for their heads or applying for government assistance.

Article by Rachael Volpe