by Heather Vogell

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What Happened: Greystar, the nation’s largest landlord, has agreed to stop using algorithmic rent-setting software that federal prosecutors say could violate laws against price-fixing.

The agreement is part of a proposed settlement with the Justice Department to resolve claims by federal authorities that the company had colluded with other landlords to raise rents in cities across the country.

The deal was announced by the DOJ on Friday but still must be approved by a judge. If it is, it will bar Greystar, which is based in South Carolina and manages nearly 950,000 apartments nationwide, from using any “anti-competitive” algorithm that relies on rivals’ sensitive data to suggest rents, the department said in a statement.

Greystar was using rent-setting algorithms from RealPage, a Texas-based software-maker who was the subject of a ProPublica investigation in 2022 that showed the firm was helping landlords decide prices in a way that legal experts said could result in cartel-like behavior.........

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