DOJ Lawsuit Goes After Large Rental Firms For Price Fixing
Property managers for multiple high-end Milwaukee apartments are among defendants.
The Moderne. Photo by Tom Bamberger.
The U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing a group of property management firms and a leading rental pricing software firm for an alleged unlawful, anti-competitive scheme that used non-public data to raise the prices of apartment rentals.
Included as a defendant is Willow Bridge Property Company, the Dallas-based firm that serves as the property manager for The Couture, The Moderne and other Milwaukee area apartment developments from Barrett Lo Visionary Development. Willow Bridge is one largest property management firms in the country.
At the center of the alleged scheme is RealPage, an algorithmic pricing software tool that is said to use private data from ostensibly competing landlords to avoid lowering rental prices.
“Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in an August press release announcing the complaint against RealPage. The property management firms and additional plaintiffs were added on Jan. 7. “We allege that RealPage’s pricing algorithm enables landlords to share confidential, competitively sensitive information and align their rents. Using software as the sharing mechanism does not immunize this scheme from Sherman Act liability, and the Justice Department will continue to aggressively enforce the antitrust laws and protect the American people from those who violate them.”
RealPage executives are quoted in the complaint as saying the software is designed to “avoid the race to the bottom in down markets” and that it is aimed at “driving every possible opportunity to increase price.”
Willow Bridge has never used RealPage in conjunction with leasing at The Couture, a 44-story luxury high rise that opened in 2024, confirmed a Barrett Lo spokesperson. It has been used at The Moderne, a 31-story story that opened in 2012.
“Willow Bridge made Barrett Lo aware of the concerns that had been raised regarding its use of the RealPage software and instituted company-wide changes to guard against those concerns. No non-public information is used to set rental rates at Barrett Lo properties, and RealPage software has never been used at The Couture,” said the spokesperson.
Attorney generals from 10 states are included as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. But, the Wisconsin Department of Justice is not one of the states to sign on as a co-plaintiff. Neighboring states Illinois and Minnesota are included.
Willow Bridge’s other Milwaukee area properties include Bayshore Place in Glendale, Barrett Lo’s Emerald Row Apartments in Oak Creek and Illinois-based Wingspan Development Group’s The Ruby in Brookfield.
Other property managers listed as defendants include Camden Property Trust, Cortland Management, Cushman & Wakefield, Greystar Real Estate Partners, LivCor and Pinnacle Property Management Services.
Greystar, according to its website, is the property management for the nearly-finished Evoni Apartments in the Historic Third Ward, The Lydell in Glendale and Deer Run in Brown Deer. Its website also lists two properties in Madison.
Cushman & Wakefield does operate a commercial real estate brokerage in Milwaukee, but the company, according to its website, does not have a residential property management arm in Wisconsin.
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