Up to a Quarter of Rental Inflation Is Due to Price-Fixing
Rents have surged in recent years and now account for a large share of measured inflation, prompting scrutiny of alleged price-fixing by software vendor RealPage and large corporate landlords. Commenters weigh how much collusion and algorithmic pricing can really move markets compared with deeper structural drivers such as chronic housing shortages, restrictive zoning, pandemic-era money creation, and asset inflation. Proposals range from breaking up pricing cartels and taxing vacant units to large-scale upzoning, land value taxes, and rethinking the role of landlords and private capital in housing.
Role of RealPage and Alleged Price-Fixing
- Several commenters discuss RealPage as an alleged rent-collusion hub: algorithmic “suggested rents,” defaults to use those rents, promises of always-rising prices, pressure on clients who undercut, and facilitating communication among large landlords.
- Some argue this converts fragmented, inefficient price-fixing into centralized, effective cartel behavior once enough units are on the system.
- Others are skeptical: rental markets were already transparent, landlords could see comps before, and RealPage is seen as marginal compared to broader forces.
Housing Shortage vs. Collusion as Main Driver
- One camp: the core problem is a housing shortage; rent is a big share of CPI, and even modestly faster rent growth can dominate inflation.
- Counterpoints: examples like NYC and Atlanta where population or vacancies don’t line up cleanly with rents; suggestions that units are kept vacant, or that latent demand (more space per person) explains tightness.
- Debate over whether vacancy rates alone capture “supply vs. demand,” given incentives to hold units off market and accounting/tax effects.
Zoning, Construction, and “Right Kind” of Housing
- Broad agreement that restrictive zoning (single-family mandates, height limits, long approvals) constrains supply and pushes developers toward high-end or luxury projects.
- Some cite evidence that even luxury construction eases pressure down-market via “filtering”; others argue in some countries demand growth still outpaces this effect.
Landlords, Rent-Seeking, and Ownership Models
- Intense normative dispute: some label landlords as low-value “rent-seekers” or parasites; others defend them as necessary capital allocators and property managers.
- Arguments over whether banning landlording or transferring units to tenants would help or cause worse shortages, financing issues, and maintenance failures.
- Ideas raised: rent-to-own requirements, co-ops, vacancy taxes, land value taxes, and “occupancy credits.”
Macro Policy and Inflation
- A thread attributes much inflation to massive COVID-era money creation and fiscal support, with asset owners ultimately capturing much of it.
- Modern Monetary Theory concepts are invoked: government spends by creating money, then taxes to destroy excess; disagreement over whether tax truly “destroys” money or just reallocates it.
- Suggested remedies include higher taxation on asset gains and wealth-like positions, vs. criticism that the root problem was printing so much in the first place.