PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi today urging her to continue the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against RealPage, Inc. and several major corporate landlords for allegedly colluding to illegally inflate rents through an algorithmic price-fixing scheme.
“Millions of renters—including many in Arizona’s two largest cities—have been harmed by this unlawful conduct,” wrote Attorney General Mayes. “This scheme stifled competition, created a de facto rental monopoly, and drove up housing costs for working families. That’s why my office sued nine corporate landlords and RealPage for price-fixing in Arizona. But this is a national crisis, which is why the DOJ, and 10 other states also took legal action. The federal lawsuit must continue.”
Rents are 76% higher in Phoenix since 2016 and 30% higher in Tucson over the past few years. One analysis found rents across the country have increased 19% since 2019. Another analysis focused on RealPage found that 3.1 million market-rate rental units across the country that are managed by companies named in the lawsuits.
“I intend to press forward with the case I filed in Arizona against Real Page, but I also urge the Trump administration, through the DOJ, to see its case through,” urged Attorney General Mayes. “RealPage and its co-conspirators engaged in unfair and anticompetitive practices that forced families to pay artificially high rents at a time when many are struggling to get by. Addressing this issue is essential to making housing more affordable—not just in Arizona, but across the country.”
Attorney General Mayes filed Arizona's suit against RealPage and nine landlord companies operating in Arizona independently from the DOJ suit, allowing the Arizona Attorney General’s office to potentially hold RealPage and the named corporate landlords accountable for allegedly conspiring to illegally raise rents for hundreds of thousands of Arizona renters regardless of Attorney General Bondi’s next steps on the federal case.