D.C. Attorney General Sues 14 Of The City’s Biggest Landlords For Colluding To Inflate Rental Prices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our AG stopped filing frivolous lawsuits and maybe did something about crime.

"D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing 14 of the city’s largest landlords, alleging in a sweeping antitrust lawsuit filed Wednesday that they colluded with property management software company RealPage to artificially inflate rent prices by up to 7% across roughly 40,000 apartments in the District."

and you think that's a frivolous lawsuit?

and violating antitrust laws isn't a crime?

I suggest crime should be a higher priority.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Thanks for positing. This story will be invisible on housing twitter just like the original story about RealPage was. Anyone who claims to be an affordable housing advocate and doesn’t applaud the AG’s effort isn’t interested in affordable housing so much as they are in making sure landlords make giant profits.

Name one housing advocate who's denounced this lawsuit. If they're not commenting on it, it's because breaking up a price fixing scheme doesn't solve the underlying problems that they're focused on. Even if the DCAG proves that there was a conspiracy among landlords - it's plausible - there will still be a housing crisis, just as there will still be NIMBYs trying to prevent anyone from doing anything about it.

Have you even read the complaint? The companies were able to increase rents even as vacancies increased. That really calls into question your just build more housing slogan. Turns out building more housing won’t actually drive down pricing if landlords are colluding.

Then the solution is to stop the cartel, not to throw up our hands and say “it’s hopeless because landlords will always break the law.” We know from comparing housing production rates among different cities that whatever cartel activity is going on, it’s not enough to prevent rent prices from plateauing in places that are building enough. Besides, building more housing isn’t just about lowering prices. It’s also about making homes for people who need them, closer to urban cores and job centers. Housing advocates see NIMBY reliance on this lawsuit for what it is: an excuse to justify the status quo.

And yet YINBYs mobilize more effectively against next door messages than the cartel price fixing. How much have next door messages made rents go up?

YIMBYs mobilize for changing policy. Price fixing is already illegal, so it’s a law enforcement matter. There’s nothing to “mobilize” for, except for the same policy problems that will be there even if cartel behavior is found and stopped. Problems like underfunded affordable housing programs, restrictive zoning laws, excessive car dependence… none of which NIMBYs want to do anything about.

More Smart Growth developer talking points. How much "affordable" housing is there in the uber-dense developments of City Ridge and adjacent properties? A pitiful eight percent, and it's not really affordable. Stop snookering people into believing that building more and more luxury flats will make any meaningful dent in affordable housing. DC is letting the voucher program cannibalize rent controlled units that in fact provide affordable workforce housing. The mayor's affordable housing policy is one baby step forward and two steps backward, while lining the pockets of well-connected developers and real estate speculators.

Now you’re changing the subject. We need more of all types of housing. I take it you oppose rent stabilization and more funding for affordable housing?

The YIMBYs would love to change the subject but we should all stay focused on the fact that tens of thousands of households overpaid for housing only because landlords illegally colluded. The landlords created the housing crisis. Not zoning or taxes or NIMBYs or any of your other favorite bogeypeople.

No, the behavior that's alleged by large landlords just made the housing crisis worse. It's not the reason why rents for other properties that weren't part of the conspiracy are too high. It's certainly not the reason why ownership properties like houses and rowhomes are prohibitively expensive, or why urban sprawl has continued unabated.

Can you answer the question? Is there anything that you would actually do to fix the housing crisis, besides sit on your hands and hope this lawsuit pans out? The rest of us have work to do.

Rents at other properties were too high because they indirectly benefited from the conspiracy. Sprawl continues unabated because land is cheaper further away from the city and cheaper land means a lower cost basis and higher profit margin. YIMBYs have aided sprawl by calling all growth smart growth, even big apartment complexes in Fredricksburg that are rented to people who work in DC.

A land value tax and incentives to build more condos would do more to fix the housing crisis (which landlords and like JBG and Bozutto created by fixing prices and staging projects to keep supplies low and rents high) than anything YIMBYs have done.

Now get back to work cheering on the price fixers.

Hey wouldja look at that - a NIMBY who actually knows a thing or two about housing policy!

The DCAG alleges that the conspiracy inflated rents by 2-7%. That's only a fraction of the total increase in rents from the past several years, so only some of that increase can be attributed to alleged price fixing. Same for rentals by non-conspirators. You never explained how the conspiracy could possibly be responsible for the extreme unaffordability of ownership properties outside the rental market.

YIMBYs are big proponents of land value taxes. Where did you hear they weren't? Good that we're on the same page there anyway. There should be more incentives for building both condos and 100% affordable projects.

DC workers wouldn't have to live in Fredericksburg if there was enough housing closer in to meet the demand. Fredericksburg is still a job center, so there needs to be housing built there too even if it's not for DC commuters. Land closer to DC is more expensive, but that cost can be offset by building taller and spreading the costs across more units.

No one is 'cheering' the big landlords. If they actually broke the law, I hope they pay through the nose and the renters they hurt get compensated.

You’ll be back to lobbying for the big landlords to get more subsidies and tax breaks soon enough because they’ve convinced you that everything will be fine as long as their profits are bigger. YIMBYs are useless in solving the housing crisis because they take their talking points from the same people causing it.

Personal attacks don’t answer anything that PP said.

In free markets, more supply -> lower prices -> lower profits. Yimbys want renters and buyers to have more leverage against landlords and sellers to negotiate lower prices. Fewer landlords getting fat profits, fewer sellers reaping windfalls, more renters and buyers enjoying lower costs.

YIMBYs are so clueless they don't realize that price fixing nullifies all of this.

That’s not what the complaint says. Only some of the increase in rents can be blamed on price fixing. The rest is market forces. PP said that already and you completely ignored their arguments about owner occupied properties being completely unaffected.

If the AG wins, the landlords pay big damages, and the court prohibits fixing prices through RealPage or otherwise, we’ll still be stuck with the same undersupply that’s the biggest contributor to high rents now.

Rents increased 50 to 100 percent faster than they would have without price fixing. If you back out the inflation, rents went up a little faster than inflation. If you read the complaint, you'll see that RealPage clients are able to raise rents even when vacancies go up. Collusion rendered oversupply useless as a rent moderator. Thanks for playing.

I have heard exactly one person talk about ‘oversupply’ like this.

This is the core YIMBY argument, repeated over and over again. You must not have recognized it because it used different words than you mindlessly chant at your GGW meet-ups and you haven’t taken enough economics courses to understand the concepts.

.

Are the meet-ups paid for by the GGW Dirty Dozen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These landlords don't seem like much of a "cartel" when they control less than 20 percent of rental units (and far less when you count rentals over the border in MD and VA).

10 large DC landlords sending a company their rental prices and paying this company to use algorithms to set their sounds pretty damn anti-trust to me! I am extremely happy to have Brian Schwalb suing these shltbags and defending DC tenants. Better than all the DCUM harpies posting in this thread!

And shut up and #BuildMoreHousing already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our AG stopped filing frivolous lawsuits and maybe did something about crime.

"D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing 14 of the city’s largest landlords, alleging in a sweeping antitrust lawsuit filed Wednesday that they colluded with property management software company RealPage to artificially inflate rent prices by up to 7% across roughly 40,000 apartments in the District."

and you think that's a frivolous lawsuit?

and violating antitrust laws isn't a crime?

I suggest crime should be a higher priority.

+1

And before anyone says that he can do both at the same time, clearly based on current evidence he cannot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These landlords don't seem like much of a "cartel" when they control less than 20 percent of rental units (and far less when you count rentals over the border in MD and VA).

Oh but wait they use COMPUTERS to help decide prices! OH NO!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These landlords don't seem like much of a "cartel" when they control less than 20 percent of rental units (and far less when you count rentals over the border in MD and VA).

Oh but wait they use COMPUTERS to help decide prices! OH NO!

Love the fact that the GGW Dirty Dozen claim to champion “affordable” housing while engaging in an alleged price fixing conspiracy to fix DC rents.

[Anonymous]

DOJ is getting in on this action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These landlords don't seem like much of a "cartel" when they control less than 20 percent of rental units (and far less when you count rentals over the border in MD and VA).

10 large DC landlords sending a company their rental prices and paying this company to use algorithms to set their sounds pretty damn anti-trust to me! I am extremely happy to have Brian Schwalb suing these shltbags and defending DC tenants. Better than all the DCUM harpies posting in this thread!

And shut up and #BuildMoreHousing already.

The costs of rentals and building housing are affected by higher interest rates, the costs of construction and the higher taxes, labor rates and insurance it takes to run these buildings. There is no money in building lower cost housing and builders cannot finance those buildings because there would be a loss with the cash flow.
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/25/1225957874/housing-unaffordable-for-record-half-all-u-s-renters-study-finds#:~:text=%22What%20we%20are%20building%20is,to%20the%20majority%20of%20renters.%22

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These landlords don't seem like much of a "cartel" when they control less than 20 percent of rental units (and far less when you count rentals over the border in MD and VA).

10 large DC landlords sending a company their rental prices and paying this company to use algorithms to set their sounds pretty damn anti-trust to me! I am extremely happy to have Brian Schwalb suing these shltbags and defending DC tenants. Better than all the DCUM harpies posting in this thread!

And shut up and #BuildMoreHousing already.

How is it any different than Redfin? Collect data. Run algorithm. Estimate market value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for positing. This story will be invisible on housing twitter just like the original story about RealPage was. Anyone who claims to be an affordable housing advocate and doesn’t applaud the AG’s effort isn’t interested in affordable housing so much as they are in making sure landlords make giant profits.

Name one housing advocate who's denounced this lawsuit. If they're not commenting on it, it's because breaking up a price fixing scheme doesn't solve the underlying problems that they're focused on. Even if the DCAG proves that there was a conspiracy among landlords - it's plausible - there will still be a housing crisis, just as there will still be NIMBYs trying to prevent anyone from doing anything about it.

Have you even read the complaint? The companies were able to increase rents even as vacancies increased. That really calls into question your just build more housing slogan. Turns out building more housing won’t actually drive down pricing if landlords are colluding.

Then the solution is to stop the cartel, not to throw up our hands and say “it’s hopeless because landlords will always break the law.” We know from comparing housing production rates among different cities that whatever cartel activity is going on, it’s not enough to prevent rent prices from plateauing in places that are building enough. Besides, building more housing isn’t just about lowering prices. It’s also about making homes for people who need them, closer to urban cores and job centers. Housing advocates see NIMBY reliance on this lawsuit for what it is: an excuse to justify the status quo.

And yet YINBYs mobilize more effectively against next door messages than the cartel price fixing. How much have next door messages made rents go up?

YIMBYs mobilize for changing policy. Price fixing is already illegal, so it’s a law enforcement matter. There’s nothing to “mobilize” for, except for the same policy problems that will be there even if cartel behavior is found and stopped. Problems like underfunded affordable housing programs, restrictive zoning laws, excessive car dependence… none of which NIMBYs want to do anything about.

More Smart Growth developer talking points. How much "affordable" housing is there in the uber-dense developments of City Ridge and adjacent properties? A pitiful eight percent, and it's not really affordable. Stop snookering people into believing that building more and more luxury flats will make any meaningful dent in affordable housing. DC is letting the voucher program cannibalize rent controlled units that in fact provide affordable workforce housing. The mayor's affordable housing policy is one baby step forward and two steps backward, while lining the pockets of well-connected developers and real estate speculators.

Now you’re changing the subject. We need more of all types of housing. I take it you oppose rent stabilization and more funding for affordable housing?

The YIMBYs would love to change the subject but we should all stay focused on the fact that tens of thousands of households overpaid for housing only because landlords illegally colluded. The landlords created the housing crisis. Not zoning or taxes or NIMBYs or any of your other favorite bogeypeople.

No, the behavior that's alleged by large landlords just made the housing crisis worse. It's not the reason why rents for other properties that weren't part of the conspiracy are too high. It's certainly not the reason why ownership properties like houses and rowhomes are prohibitively expensive, or why urban sprawl has continued unabated.

Can you answer the question? Is there anything that you would actually do to fix the housing crisis, besides sit on your hands and hope this lawsuit pans out? The rest of us have work to do.

Rents at other properties were too high because they indirectly benefited from the conspiracy. Sprawl continues unabated because land is cheaper further away from the city and cheaper land means a lower cost basis and higher profit margin. YIMBYs have aided sprawl by calling all growth smart growth, even big apartment complexes in Fredricksburg that are rented to people who work in DC.

A land value tax and incentives to build more condos would do more to fix the housing crisis (which landlords and like JBG and Bozutto created by fixing prices and staging projects to keep supplies low and rents high) than anything YIMBYs have done.

Now get back to work cheering on the price fixers.

Hey wouldja look at that - a NIMBY who actually knows a thing or two about housing policy!

The DCAG alleges that the conspiracy inflated rents by 2-7%. That's only a fraction of the total increase in rents from the past several years, so only some of that increase can be attributed to alleged price fixing. Same for rentals by non-conspirators. You never explained how the conspiracy could possibly be responsible for the extreme unaffordability of ownership properties outside the rental market.

YIMBYs are big proponents of land value taxes. Where did you hear they weren't? Good that we're on the same page there anyway. There should be more incentives for building both condos and 100% affordable projects.

DC workers wouldn't have to live in Fredericksburg if there was enough housing closer in to meet the demand. Fredericksburg is still a job center, so there needs to be housing built there too even if it's not for DC commuters. Land closer to DC is more expensive, but that cost can be offset by building taller and spreading the costs across more units.

No one is 'cheering' the big landlords. If they actually broke the law, I hope they pay through the nose and the renters they hurt get compensated.

You’ll be back to lobbying for the big landlords to get more subsidies and tax breaks soon enough because they’ve convinced you that everything will be fine as long as their profits are bigger. YIMBYs are useless in solving the housing crisis because they take their talking points from the same people causing it.

Personal attacks don’t answer anything that PP said.

In free markets, more supply -> lower prices -> lower profits. Yimbys want renters and buyers to have more leverage against landlords and sellers to negotiate lower prices. Fewer landlords getting fat profits, fewer sellers reaping windfalls, more renters and buyers enjoying lower costs.

YIMBYs are so clueless they don't realize that price fixing nullifies all of this.

That’s not what the complaint says. Only some of the increase in rents can be blamed on price fixing. The rest is market forces. PP said that already and you completely ignored their arguments about owner occupied properties being completely unaffected.

If the AG wins, the landlords pay big damages, and the court prohibits fixing prices through RealPage or otherwise, we’ll still be stuck with the same undersupply that’s the biggest contributor to high rents now.

Rents increased 50 to 100 percent faster than they would have without price fixing. If you back out the inflation, rents went up a little faster than inflation. If you read the complaint, you'll see that RealPage clients are able to raise rents even when vacancies go up. Collusion rendered oversupply useless as a rent moderator. Thanks for playing.

I have heard exactly one person talk about ‘oversupply’ like this.

This is the core YIMBY argument, repeated over and over again. You must not have recognized it because it used different words than you mindlessly chant at your GGW meet-ups and you haven’t taken enough economics courses to understand the concepts.

.

Are the meet-ups paid for by the GGW Dirty Dozen?

GGW Dirty Dozen? Or perhaps the Fraudulent Fourteen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These landlords don't seem like much of a "cartel" when they control less than 20 percent of rental units (and far less when you count rentals over the border in MD and VA).

Oh but wait they use COMPUTERS to help decide prices! OH NO!

Love the fact that the GGW Dirty Dozen claim to champion “affordable” housing while engaging in an alleged price fixing conspiracy to fix DC rents.

That would be like Trumpers who spin that ever more market rate development in DC is all about “affordability and inclusion” while working for Trump who opposes building affordable housing.