The Department of Justice is suing RealPage for keeping rents artificially high for millions of renters.
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Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Stocks rallied after a clear message from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. “The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data.” Wall Street has fully priced in a quarter percentage point rate cut at the upcoming September meeting.
Inflation watchers will be on guard next week with the release of the personal consumption expenditures index for July – the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.
In other news: The Justice Department and eight states are going after RealPage, a real estate software company, for allegedly aiding in rent gouging and collusion.
The antitrust lawsuit claims that RealPage’s software accumulates confidential data on rent prices provided by landlords who pay to use the service. Then, an algorithm uses the data to come up with a number on how much rent landlords should collect for their properties. The suggested rent is typically higher than it would be if the landlords were competing against one another on price, according to the lawsuit.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said In a statement, “Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law.”
In its defense, a spokeswoman from RealPage described the algorithm as revenue management software that is “purposely built to be legally compliant.”
Stubbornly high rents have been a complaint for Americans, turning it into a hot-button political issue. According to Zillow, between 2019 and 2023, rental prices surged 20 percent.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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