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☆ Insider Today: Landlords' secret weapon
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

That chase, and Simpson's subsequent murder trial, changed media forever. A year later, 150 million would watch the jury declare a shocking not guilty verdict. Also read:AdvertisementEmrah_Oztas/ Getty Image, eGreg Bajor/Getty Image, Aleksey Balatskiy/Getty Image, Cici Morosanu/500px/Getty Image, Busà Photography/Getty Image, Abanti Chowdhury/BILandlords' secret weaponBig-time apartment owners have a secret weapon: RealPage, a company that sells software to property managers to help them set rents and juice their profits. Some Spotify staff told BI the company is spending too much on lavish events, especially as it looks to cut even more costs. This week's quote:Advertisement"As a personality hire, you can get away with not being as competent and doing half of your job."

Persons: —, ChatGPT, O.J, Simpson, Bundy, Sheriff Roland Jex, Christopher Darden, VINCE BUCCI, Nicole Brown Simpson, Ron Goldman, Ford Bronco, Robert Kardashian, Goldman, Michael Socolow, Rupert Murdoch, Rebecca Zisser, eGreg Bajor, Aleksey Balatskiy, Cici, Abanti Chowdhury, Jia Feng, Sam Smith, Charli XCX, Daniel Bennett Organizations: Service, Business, Aris, Getty, University of Southern, NFL, Ford, CNN, Fox, RealPage, Spotify Locations: America, ANGELES , CA, Rockingham, Los Angeles , CA, AFP, University of Southern California, London

☆ Landlords Use a Popular Software Tool to Jack up Apartment, Home Rents
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Rents soared thanks to a shortage of apartment units, remote workers' desire for more space, and a daunting for-sale market that kept many renters stuck in place. Without RealPage, the plaintiffs argue, landlords would be hesitant to jack up rents; instead, they'd focus on keeping their buildings full. In short, the lawsuits that started with apartment rents could one day change how we pay for everything. By turning over pricing to the algorithm, plaintiffs say, RealPage's clients are encouraged to push rents higher than if they'd left the decisions up to humans. The RealPage cases are about far more than apartment rents.

Persons: RealPage, Kris Mayes, they'll, they'd, —, Zillow, there's, Marie Claire Tran, Leung, Tran, Matt Damon, Maureen Ohlhausen, Bob, Ohlhausen, Ed Rogers, Ballard Spahr, Jeffery Cross, Smith Gambrell Russell, didn't, it'll Organizations: Revenue Management, ProPublica, National Housing Law, FBI, RealPage, Department, Federal Trade Commission, Politico, Washington, Justice Department, FTC Locations: Texas, you've, Phoenix, Tucson, Washington, DC, RealPage, Arizona, Tennessee

☆ Inside the Fight Over Software That Tells Landlords to Hike Your Rent
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow RealPage influences rent prices across the U.S.RealPage software is used to set rental prices on 4.5 million housing units in the U.S. A series of lawsuits allege that a group of landlords are sharing sensitive data with RealPage, which then artificially inflates rents. The complaints surface as housing supply in the U.S. lags demand. Some of the defendant landlords report high occupancy within their buildings, alongside strong jobs growth in their operating regions and slow home construction.

Locations: U.S ., U.S

☆ Why U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Carlos Waters | In Carloswaters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Equity Residential purchased Portside Towers in 2019. A group of renters in the U.S. say their landlords are using software to deliver inflated rent hikes. Renters told CNBC they discovered how revenue management software is used in real estate after reading a 2022 ProPublica investigation. Equity Residential investor materials show that the company started to experiment with Lease Rent Options between 2005 and 2008. Equity Residential and other defendant landlords declined to comment on ongoing RealPage litigation.

Persons: RealPage, District of Columbia Brian Schwalb, We've, Kevin Weller, There's, Jeffrey Roper, Thoma, Thoma Bravo, Harry Gural, Gural, we're, Mark Parrell Organizations: Washington , D.C, District of Columbia, CNBC, Equity Residential, Towers, World Trade, RealPage, U.S . Department of Justice, Equity, U.S, Thoma Bravo, U.S . Locations: Washington ,, RealPage, Jersey City , New Jersey, Portside, U.S, Miami, Van Ness, Jersey City, Atlanta, Austin , Texas, U.S . East

☆ Tenants and a top prosecutor have accused major landlords and a popular apartment-pricing site of colluding to inflate rents. A legal expert says it shows algorithmic collusion is no longer 'science f
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementYou're probably aware that a severe housing shortage has driven rents and home prices through the roof in recent years. Now, several lawsuits filed across the country contend that the algorithmic software some big landlords use to determine rents has artificially inflated prices. This allegation is unusual, given that RealPage doesn't have any market power over its clients, Stucke said. AdvertisementProsecutors also allege that RealPage monitors the rents that its clients charge and disciplines landlords who don't adhere to its recommendations.

Persons: —, Brian Schwalb, RealPage, They're, Maurice Stucke, RealPage didn't, Axios, Department —, Donald Trump —, Steve Winn, ProPublica, Stucke Organizations: Service, University of Tennessee, DOJ, The, Department, Prosecutors, Department of Justice, Democratic, Federal Trade Commission, Computer Locations: Washington, DC, RealPage, Texas, Seattle , New York, Boston, Colorado, Nashville

☆ Major landlords, RealPage sued in DC for alleged rent-fixing scheme
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Laya Neelakandan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The alleged collusion violates the District of Columbia's Antitrust Act, the office said. Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb's office said Tuesday that it's suing RealPage, a property management software company, and 14 of the district's largest landlords for allegedly colluding to raise rents. In a statement to CNBC, a company spokesperson for William C. Smith & Co. said the company does not comment on pending litigation. The software uses proprietary, nonpublic data and statistical models to estimate supply and demand and generate a price to maximize the landlord's revenue. RealPage has previously been sued by renters in the Southern District of California and Tennessee over the past year.

Persons: Igor Golovniov, Brian Schwalb's, it's, RealPage, William C, Smith, didn't, Schwalb, Jennifer Bowcock, Berkshire Hathaway Organizations: Inc, Getty, Columbia's, Washington , D.C, CNBC, Southern District of, D.C, National Association of Realtors, CNBC PRO Locations: Washington ,, Southern District, Southern District of California, Tennessee, Seattle , Texas, Boston, Missouri, Berkshire

☆ NBA and NHL broadcasts are coming soon to immersive ‘shared reality’ domes
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article WBD Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTCosm's shared reality dome concept for viewing live sports broadcasts. Discovery and Cosm, a privately held company that specializes in immersive technology, are about to make "shared reality" a reality for sports fans. The Cosm venues will feature domes with 360 degree, 87 foot diameter 8K LED screens that are similar in concept to James Dolan's Las Vegas Sphere, which debuted in September. Ours is more of a smaller format and really focused on live sports and live programing — like you're absolutely there." Terry's first priority is to use the TNT Sports deal as a template to get more live sports rights into the venues for fans.

Persons: Cosm, James Dolan's, they've, Jeb Terry, Tayfun, Steve Winn, RealPage, Thoma, Terry, He's, Evans & Sutherland, There's, Raphael Poplock, Poplock, it's Organizations: Warner Bros ., Dallas —, TNT, NBA, CNBC, Anadolu Agency, Getty, National Basketball Association, National Hockey, Women's National Soccer Team, Mirasol, Thoma Bravo, National Football League, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Fox Sports, Evans &, Warner Bros, NHL, HBO, Max, TNT Sports, Turner, Entertainment Locations: Los Angeles, Dallas, Las Vegas

☆ 'Thrown to the wolves': How private investors are jacking up rents and ripping off college students
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The eye-popping numbers are part of a longer-term shift toward private college housing. Moody's Analytics recently warned of an "affordability crisis" for college students, noting that since 2019, rents for student housing in a sample of notable college towns had grown faster than those of regular apartments. Student housing goes privateThe gold rush in student housing is a relatively new phenomenon. Back in the 1980s and '90s, most college students either lived in bland, cinder-block-walled dorms or in conventional apartments farther from campus. Even with his frugality, he came to realize that the prices in West Campus were "impossible to rationalize" for a college student.

Persons: behemoth Blackstone, Evan Scope, UT Austin who's, Carl Whitaker, Austin Kristian Alveo, Whitaker, Mark Austin, Kristian Alveo, David Willson, Willson, Gina Cowart, Cowart, David Kanne, lounging, Ann, Kanne, Lu Chen, RealPage, Donald Cohen, Cohen, Graham Sowden, Dan Allen, Allen, Austin, James Rodriguez Organizations: Waterloo, University of Texas, Wall Street's, American, Communities, National, Housing, Evan Scope Crafts, UT Austin, University, UT, LV, UTs, Crafts, American Campus, HBO, West, haven't, State College ,, Moody's, Power, Middlebury College, University of Tennessee, Arizona State University, Urban Institute, Investors, Power Five, RREAF Holdings Locations: Austin, Wall, Waterloo, UT Austin, Rio, Villas, West, West Campus, Gainesville , Florida, Ann Arbor , Michigan, State College , Pennsylvania, Knoxville, South

☆ Apartment rents are on the verge of declining due to massive new supply
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apartment rents have been cooling off sharply for several months, and they look like they're about to go negative compared with a year ago. The issue instead is just a massive amount of apartment supply. While rents nationally haven't gone negative yet, they have in several local markets. One exception is New York, where rents were up just 1.9% annually as significant supply comes on the market. Looking ahead, supply should remain high through next year, which will push rents lower potentially through 2025.

Persons: That's Locations: Austin , Texas, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Jacksonville , Florida, Midwest, New York

☆ TikTok influencers want to rent you a very cool home. Just don't call them landlords.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

While live-in landlords are far from a novel concept, the pandemic-era fever around passive income and real-estate investing has sparked a rise in the popularity of house hacking. While Turner's initial strategy emphasized small multifamily buildings, some house hackers applied the concept to single-family homes. In 2019, he published a book called "The House Hacking Strategy: How to Use Your Home to Achieve Financial Freedom." And I think house hacking is one obvious way to eliminate, or at least drastically reduce, what likely is your largest expense." "Yeah, it's called 'house hacking," the owner and roommate, also played by Jarman, who has 4 million followers, replies.

Persons: Kelly Clark, Clark, scoffed, TikTok, Zers, Brandon Turner, Turner, Ryan Lehman, Lehman, Brandon, I'm, Craig Curelop, BiggerPockets who's, Curelop, influencer Addison Jarman, renter, it's, Jarman, Jay Parsons, John Liang, TikToker, Liang, —, It's, doesn't, Insider's Daniel Geiger, she'd, James Rodriguez Organizations: Federal Housing Administration, BiggerPockets, Census, YouTube, RealPage Locations: Spokane , Washington, Silicon, millennials, Seattle, Spokane

If housing cost pressures start to ease more in the coming months, as many economists expect, then the Federal Reserve is almost certainly done. Headline annual consumer price inflation rose a little less than expected last month to 3.2%, and annual core inflation cooled slightly to 4.7%, as forecast. Reuters ImageReuters ImageShelter inflation is running at a 7.7% annual rate and has been far stickier than policymakers would have liked. But Parsons reckons lag effects will soon be bringing shelter inflation down more quickly. Reuters ImageReuters ImageReuters Image(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters)Reporting by Jamie McGeever; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Brendan McDermid, Jay Parsons, Parsons, Jerome Powell's, Phil Suttle, Julia Coronado, Andreas Steno Larsen, Powell, Jamie McGeever, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Federal Reserve, New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Federal, Fed, Traders, Reuters, CPI, Suttle, Steno Research, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, ORLANDO, Florida, materializing

☆ The last, best hope for homebuyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

But there may be one last hope for salvation for these hard-pressed homebuyers: brand-spanking new houses. Many builders are even dangling perks like cheaper loans or other discounts to ease the pain of higher mortgage rates. Homebuilding is typically a cyclical industry, following the ups and downs of the broader housing market. Of course, people will always move for reasons that have nothing to do with mortgage rates. Even if buyers get some relief from new housing construction, builders are still a long way off from bridging the housing shortfall.

Persons: Richard de Chazal, William Blair, de Chazal, Realtor.com, bottoming, John Burns, Black Knight, Mike Simonsen, Simonsen, bode, it's, Sheryl Palmer, Taylor Morrison, Palmer, Cristian deRitis, Jay Parsons, Matthew Walsh, Walsh, Freddie Mac, Lawrence Yun, They're, production's, James Rodriguez Organizations: Federal Reserve, National Association of Realtors, John Burns Research, Consulting, Altos Research, National Association of Homebuilders, Builders, Moody's

☆ Rent has finally stopped rising. It's great news for tenants and the economy.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | Noah Sheidlower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

US rental growth is now below pre-COVID norms, giving renters more options. Rental growth in the US is now below pre-COVID norms, Jay Parsons, the SVP, chief economist and head of industry principals at RealPage, told Insider. Throughout the pandemic, soaring rental prices — brought on by population growth and heightened demand — have helped to drive inflation to historic levels. With lower inflation, renters can have increased confidence in a more stable rental economy while giving renters more options. "I think over the next year and a half, we're gonna see very limited rent growth," Parsons said.

Persons: —, Jay Parsons, Parsons, Zillow, we're Organizations: Service, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's, CPI, Federal Reserve Locations: metros

☆ CNBC Daily Open: May’s CPI reading lets Fed pause hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Though the annual rate of inflation at 4% is still two times the Fed's target, it's the slowest increase since March 2021. That category tends to not reflect the current rental market because the CPI looks at the rental prices people are currently paying, not the rental prices landlords are asking for now. That leaves room for the Fed to pause its rate hikes. Traders think there's only a 10% chance the Fed will raise rates, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Persons: Stephen Stanley, Gargi Chaudhuri Organizations: CNBC, Fed, Traders Locations: U.S

☆ CNBC Daily Open: May’s CPI tells the Fed it can pause hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. That category tends to not reflect the current rental market because the CPI looks at the rental prices people are currently paying, not the rental prices landlords are asking for now. That leaves room for the Fed to pause its rate hikes. Traders think there's only a 8% chance the Fed will raise rates, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Persons: Stephen Stanley, Gargi Chaudhuri Organizations: CNBC, Fed, Traders Locations: U.S

☆ Markets are making a bet that inflation is finally starting to ease
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

There is "good news for both inflation and growth," Evercore ISI Chair Ed Hyman said in a client note Tuesday. Fed officials already had been largely discounting shelter prices that they expect to recede through the year. Core services inflation "is likely to slow significantly for the rest of this year and next," Hyman wrote. To be sure, inflation is likely to remain a problem ahead, and Fed officials have stated multiple times that the current level is too high . Both increases "should also be an important reminder to markets and Fed officials," Citigroup economist Andrew Hollenhorst wrote Wednesday.

Persons: bank's, Ed Hyman, Hyman, —, Christopher Waller, Andrew Hollenhorst, Janet Yellen, Yellen, we're Organizations: Federal Reserve, Fed, PMI, Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank of Canada, Citigroup

☆ The Real Reason Rent Costs Are Sky High: People Left Their Roommates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Though rent growth has slowed in recent months, renters in large cities are still feeling the effects of the 2021-22 rent boom. Residents of these places are now asking the question: If so many people left, why is my rent still so expensive? The first was outbound migration, which led to weaker housing demand in city centers. "High house prices, high rents, and rising interest rates are probably pushing back against household formation," Ozimek told me. If more employees keep adopting remote work — which, I'll admit, is a big "if" — that indicates housing demand is bound to increase.

☆ Rent growth drops back to pre-pandemic levels, but some markets are falling much harder
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apartment rents have increased slightly for the past few months, as the seasonally stronger spring activity kicks in. And, after last year's record-setting pace, rent growth is now slightly below the pre-pandemic average of 2.8%. It looks like 2023 is shaping to be a year of modest positive rent growth," researchers at Apartment List noted in the report. Single-family rent growth was 5.7% year over year in January, the lowest rate of appreciation since spring 2021, according to CoreLogic. "While rent growth is slowing at all tracked price tiers, declines for the lowest-cost rentals are not as significant, which raises affordability concerns.

☆ Rent control policies are gaining support nationwide. Here's why economists still think it's a bad idea.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Juhohn Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In response, support for rent control policies has gained traction. But this isn't the first time such policies have had widespread support. After the massive economic disruption caused by World War II, the federal government imposed rent control on roughly 80% of rental housing between 1941 and 1964. Economists argue that rent control would deter developers from building more homes, which would only worsen the housing supply crisis in the United States. Watch the video to find out why so many economists are against the idea of widespread rent control.

The case for falling rentSomething strange is happening in the apartment market. More than 971,000 apartment units were under construction across the US at the end of 2022, the second-largest number on record. There's only so much people are willing to pay,'" said Jon Leckie, a researcher for Rent, a platform that helps landlords market their properties. For now, though, the wave of supply that's already underway should keep rents in check over the next couple of years. Now, as landlords shift their focus from jacking up rents to filling up units, renters can once again look ahead to better days.

WASHINGTON — Renters are on track to get some relief in 2023 as a growing number of indicators suggest the red-hot rental market has started to cool, a shift that could also help bring down decades-high inflation that has been pushing interest rates higher. That shift is good news not only for renters, but for the economy as a whole. “The balance of power in the rental market has really shifted very rapidly to renters,” said Jay Parsons, chief economist for real estate technology firm RealPage. The market has really changed materially.”In the last several months of 2022, online real estate firms Zillow, Redfin and Apartment List recorded significant drops in rental asking prices. “We saw the year-over-year growth in our rent index peak last February, and it’s been decelerating ever since then,” Tucker said.

☆ It's official: Remote work is going to make it easier to buy a home
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Remote work pushed housing trends into warp speedIn some ways, the pandemic's housing shifts were a long time coming. The shift to remote work also hastened many people's desire for more space. Across the country, remote workers chose to part ways with roommates or seek out larger homes. Elon Musk asserted his authority at Twitter by putting an end to remote work. On the other hand, as my colleague Aki Ito previously argued, a recession could further ingrain remote work as employers look to cut spending on real estate.

☆ Proptech is losing money left and right, but Fifth Wall's Brendan Wallace is ready to spend $866 million as the sector enters its 'proving ground'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Fifth Wall's Brendan Wallace says today's rough markets are a "proving ground" for the industry. Earlier this year, it announced a $500 million climate fund and a $147 European proptech fund. There are also fewer paths to go public, as the blank-check-company model that takes companies public with fewer disclosures via a merger has dried up. After successfully bringing SmartRent public via its own blank-check company in 2021, Fifth Wall canceled its second blank-check company in March of this year. Procore, which raised $634.5 million in a public offering in May 2021, is an investor in the new Fifth Wall fund.

☆ What goes up… is starting to come down
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Christine Romans | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Gas prices are back to last year’s levels, after spiking to a record high of just over $5 a gallon this summer. “Falling prices in categories such as toys and electronics accelerated demand in November,” Adobe reported, noting that computers and electronics saw the biggest year-over-year price cuts since 2014. After hitting a record high this summer, chicken prices have dropped sharply. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the PCE Price Index, rose 6% in October versus a year ago and notched the smallest monthly gain in more than a year. The final Consumer Price Index report of the year comes out on Tuesday, and the Producer Price Index also showed signs of cooling, at 7.4%, down from an 8.1% annual rate in October.

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