Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a bipartisan coalition of nine attorneys general, today announced a proposed multistate settlement with Greystar Management Services LLC (Greystar), the largest landlord in the U.S. The $7 million proposed settlement resolves claims against Greystar that is a part of the coalition’s ongoing enforcement against algorithmic coordination and other anticompetitive practices in rental markets across the country. In August, Greystar reached a non-monetary settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Every American deserves access to affordable housing. Yet housing continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing families around the country,” Raoul said. “I am committed to making sure that entities are held accountable when they stack the deck against Illinoisans by breaking long-standing antitrust laws. My office will continue to join with other attorneys general to uphold the law and protect competition in the marketplace.”

Today’s settlement announcement comes after Raoul and the coalition filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against RealPage Inc. (RealPage) and several of the nation’s largest landlords, including Greystar, for their unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing. In the complaint, Raoul and the coalition allege that Greystar and the other landlords shared competitively sensitive data to generate pricing recommendations using RealPage’s algorithms. Greystar and the other landlords also discussed competitively sensitive topics directly with each other, including pricing strategies, rents and selected parameters for RealPage’s software. Greystar manages nearly 950,000 rental units nationwide.

In addition to the $7 million payment to the nine participating states, the proposed consent decree, if approved by the court, would require Greystar to:

• Refrain from using any anticompetitive algorithm that generates pricing recommendations using its competitors’ competitively sensitive data or that incorporates certain anticompetitive features.
• Refrain from sharing competitively sensitive information with competitors.
• Accept a court-appointed monitor if it uses a third-party pricing algorithm that is not certified pursuant to the terms of the consent decree.
• Refrain from attending or participating in RealPage-hosted meetings of competing landlords.
• Cooperate with the multi-state coalition’s claims against RealPage.

Joining Attorney General Raoul in announcing this settlement are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon and Tennessee.