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On May 22, 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted an unannounced raid of national apartment operator Cortland Management as part of a ramped-up investigation into rental price fixing.
The main target of this investigation is RealPage, a Texas-based company that provides suggestions for rent increases based on its YieldStar software.
Rent increases suggested by the YieldStar algorithm are based not on demand but rather on data collected from landlords. And for one example, rents in Atlanta, GA, are going up despite higher vacancy rates.
Could one company be the reason for soaring rent prices across the U.S.?
And if rent increases for the vast majority of apartments across the country are based on that one company’s software recommendations rather than rental demand, what are the implications for shelter inflation measures?
While the answers to these questions probably won’t factor into next week’s FOMC meeting and the timing of the next Fed rate cut, a possible collusion between corporate landlords and a company that keeps rents climbing faster than demand is still a very big deal.
This is why, on May 22, 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted an unannounced raid on national apartment operator Cortland Management. The raid was part of a ramped-up criminal antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
According to a Tuesday article on Entrepreneur, the real target of this investigation is RealPage—a $9 billion Texas-based software company used by corporate landlords like Cortland. RealPage recommends rent increases on millions of housing units across the country.
From what Cortland Management told the press, the FBI executed a limited search warrant at the company’s Atlanta office as part of the DOJ’s investigation “into potential antitrust violations in the multifamily housing industry.”
The question is whether RealPage and corporate landlords are guilty of an alleged rental price-fixing conspiracy that could already be affecting millions of American renters.
More than 16 million rental units in the U.S., out of about 22 million in total, use RealPage’s YieldStar software.
CORTLAND’S TIES TO REALPAGE
According to the RealPage blog, Cortland Management, which owned close to 85,000 apartment units as of June 2022, used the RealPage algorithm to “ensure consistent vendor pricing for their communities from Arizona to Georgia.”
RealPage’s impact on the rental market is most noticeable in Atlanta, GA, where pricing for over 80% of rentals is software-based. Since 2016, rents in the area have gone up by 80%. And higher vacancy rates have not brought any relief.
According to multiple lawsuits filed in the last two years (in California, Arizona, and New York, among other states), the issue with RealPage is that its YieldStar algorithm suggests rental price increases based on data collected from landlords—not based on demand.
In a February (2024) lawsuit announcement, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes put it more clearly, saying landlords “were not competing at all… They were colluding with one another.”
https://nowbam.com/fbi-raids-corpora...investigation/
'Here......Once again, we have gathered in the depths of a small Cotswold town called Stow-On-the Wold, among the town and country folk, we can witness the lesser spotted Karens, going about other peoples business, in their natural habitat'.......
-In the voice of Sir David Attenborough
Cortland has acquired U.K.-based property management firm Qdime. With the company’s more than 33,000 units managed, the acquisition will make Cortland one of the U.K.’s top 10 property managers.
Cortland entered the U.K. management and development market in 2017, with plans to provide more housing options for residents through build-to-rent, leasehold and other rental models.
In 2019, Cortland acquired property management company LIV Group, adding some 10,000 units to its U.K. footprint. Qdime Group consists of seven brands that operate across the U.K., in cities such as Buckinghamshire, Bristol, Dorset, Hertfordshire, Kent, London and Wiltshire. Qdime’s Hazelvine, a property management service, represents the company’s biggest revenue source.
Qdime founders Nigel Burnand and Robert Burnand will stay on as Cortland employees, filling the roles of managing director of Block Operations and director of Block Operations, respectively. Cortland plans to retain all existing Qdime staff, as well.
Market growth
Cortland currently has a 367-unit build-to-rent project underway in Watford, England that is expected to open in late 2021. The firm, which operates nearly 70,000 units in the U.S., has been expanding its market presence throughout 2021. The company manages close to 200 U.S. communities in several states, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona.
Last month the firm broke ground on Cortland ChampionsGate, a 355-unit, resort-style Orlando project. The development’s first units are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2022. The company recently took the No. 9 spot on our Fastest-Growing Multifamily Property Management Companies of 2021 ranking.
https://www.multihousingnews.com/cor...m-acquisition/
'Here......Once again, we have gathered in the depths of a small Cotswold town called Stow-On-the Wold, among the town and country folk, we can witness the lesser spotted Karens, going about other peoples business, in their natural habitat'.......
-In the voice of Sir David Attenborough
And, again:
Outlaw anyone (individual, corporate entity, etc) from owning more than one rental property. That means one single family house; one duplex or fourplex or one apartment complex. Whatever, it can only be one. This doesn't interfere with the right to own private property as anyone can still own their home, a second home, a third home, whatever. It simply limits the number of rental properties any entity can own. That would force the sale of millions of rental properties, immediately driving down property prices and, as a result, rents.
Next, outlaw short term rentals (Airbnb, etc) in residential neighborhoods.
If something like the above is not done, you're gonna see a huge increase in demand for government owned housing and rent control, as well as more a demand for more high density housing (Agenda 2030). Either keep rental property privately owned and within reach of renters or the renters will demand government come to their rescue when there's nothing affordable.
'Here......Once again, we have gathered in the depths of a small Cotswold town called Stow-On-the Wold, among the town and country folk, we can witness the lesser spotted Karens, going about other peoples business, in their natural habitat'.......
-In the voice of Sir David Attenborough
Nixon and Kissinger handed over the United States manufacturing base to Chairman Mao and the Communist Red Chinese.
At the same time they removed the last vestige of the dollar being pegged to gold.
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Last edited by Anti Federalist; 09-03-2024 at 08:33 PM.
The whole narrative is absurd on its face - at the same time the USA was both founded on White supremacy, slavery, and genocide, yet always meant to be a place that infinity Africans, Indians, and South Americans could come for a "better life"? - Unknown
"Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
"Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Pharma-Corporate-Internet-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
"Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul
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