What happened
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division said Monday it filed a proposed settlement with Willow Bridge Property Company LLC to resolve claims in a Middle District of North Carolina rental-market enforcement action over alleged algorithmic coordination and information sharing.
The agency said the proposed decree would prohibit algorithmic coordination and exchanges of competitively sensitive data with competitors. DOJ said the settlement follows proposed settlements in the same enforcement action involving RealPage Inc. and landlords Cortland Management LLC, Greystar Management Services LLC and LivCor LLC.
According to DOJ’s description of the Jan. 7, 2025 complaint, Willow Bridge and five other landlord defendants allegedly used each other’s competitively sensitive information through RealPage pricing algorithms to set rents. The agency also said the landlords allegedly shared data to generate pricing recommendations and discussed pricing strategies, rents and software parameters.
The press release says the proposed consent decree would require Willow Bridge to refrain from using anticompetitive algorithms using competitors’ competitively sensitive data, refrain from sharing competitively sensitive information with competitors, accept a monitor in certain circumstances, avoid RealPage-hosted meetings of competing landlords and cooperate with DOJ claims against other defendants.
The DOJ said the proposed settlement and competitive impact statement will be published in the Federal Register, with a 60-day comment period before the Middle District of North Carolina may enter final judgment if it finds the settlement is in the public interest. Willow Bridge is a Dallas-headquartered residential property manager, according to the DOJ release.