Judge Refuses to Dismiss Antitrust Claims Against RealPage and Major Landlords Over Rent‑Pricing Software

A federal judge has refused to dismiss the remaining antitrust claims in the RealPage rent-pricing case, keeping the software company and several large landlords in court over allegations that algorithmic rent recommendations helped align rents and reduce competition.

The ruling, a Memorandum Opinion and Order filed Sept. 30 by U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, does not decide whether RealPage or the landlords broke the law. It is a pleading-stage decision on whether the plaintiffs plausibly alleged antitrust violations. In the order, Osteen wrote: “IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendant RealPage, Inc.’s Motion to Dismiss ... is DENIED.”

Osteen also denied dismissal motions filed by landlord defendants Camden Property Trust, Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC and Willow Bridge Property Co. LLC. Separate motions involving Greystar and LivCor were denied as moot because those companies had already settled. The court said that after earlier settlements and a prior final judgment, what remains are the plaintiff states’ claims against RealPage and Pinnacle, and all plaintiffs’ claims against Camden and Willow Bridge.

The case began on Aug. 23, 2024, when the U.S. Department of Justice and several states sued RealPage, alleging antitrust violations tied to the company’s rent-pricing software. An amended complaint filed Jan. 7, 2025, added major property managers including Camden, Pinnacle, LivCor, Willow Bridge and Greystar. While the Justice Department’s claims against RealPage were resolved by a final judgment entered May 19, 2026, the states’ claims continued, making this week’s ruling a significant procedural win for that coalition.

At the center of the case are RealPage products including AIRM and YieldStar. According to the amended complaint, those tools used pooled, nonpublic data from competing landlords to generate rent recommendations, allowing participating companies to move prices in parallel rather than compete more aggressively. Osteen’s opinion, summarizing the allegations, said roughly 3 million units are priced with AIRM or YieldStar and that RealPage’s product suite allegedly has access to confidential information from more than 16 million units nationwide. The case has become one of the most closely watched U.S. antitrust tests of whether pricing software can facilitate illegal coordination in the rental housing market.

The states still pursuing the case are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon and Tennessee. In a statement released Friday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, “Both RealPage and the large landlords that use it attempted to evade responsibility for conduct that has artificially inflated rent prices nationwide. This week, a court agreed with California and a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general and ordered RealPage and its landlords to answer to the states’ complaint.”

Greystar and LivCor are no longer central to this stage of the litigation because California and allied states previously reached $7 million settlements with them. The Greystar settlement was announced Nov. 18, 2025, and the LivCor settlement was announced June 18, 2026. Those deals included restrictions on using competitors’ nonpublic data to set rents.

If no fresh response was immediately available, RealPage has previously said its revenue-management products are lawful and pro-competitive, that landlords retain discretion over whether to accept recommendations, and that the company uses aggregated or anonymized data.