JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Greystar, the largest landlord in the United States, has reached a tentative settlement with the Department of Justice in an antitrust lawsuit. This comes after the DOJ accused the landlord company of colluding with other landlords to increase rent prices across the country using algorithms from the website RealPage.
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Greystar manages almost 950,000 rental units across the country. The company has 12 properties spread across the Jacksonville area.
According to the DOJ, if the agreement is approved by the court, it would prevent Greystar from “using any anticompetitive algorithm that generates pricing recommendations using its competitors’ competitively sensitive data or that incorporates certain anticompetitive features.”
A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that 69% of Americans said they were “very concerned” about the cost of housing. That’s up from 61% in April 2023.
Locally, a University of North Florida poll conducted in June showed housing costs were the number one issue for Duval County voters questioned.
Neak, who lives in a Greystar Property, is among those people concerned about affordable housing locally.
“It’s a big concern, a lot of people don’t even have anywhere to live because of the prices of rent and everything going up,” Neak said.
Neak lives in a Greystar apartment complex in Jacksonville. She says she’s not surprised the company had to settle in this case.
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“I wish I were in on that settlement because they have done this multiple times,” Neak said. “It’s my second living in a grey start community, and they’re raising my rent right now. So I’m not shocked that they basically had to settle.”
Greystar sent us a statement on the tentative settlement that reads in part:
“Greystar firmly believes that its use of RealPage’s revenue management software complies with all applicable laws...Today’s settlements do not change that belief and the settlements contain no admission of wrongdoing.”
To read the full statement from Greystar, click here.
The case is being taken up in North Carolina. The court still has to approve the proposed settlement before this can go into effect.
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