4 ms·

Sounds like RealPage makes it easy for landlords to identify market prices so they can charge as much as the market will bear. That's arguably scummy, but I don

Sounds like RealPage makes it easy for landlords to identify market prices so they can charge as much as the market will bear. That's arguably scummy, but I don't see any evidence that RealPage is somehow affecting the market price itself. The market price is as high as it is because we have a housing shortage. RealPage just helps landlords take advantage of an underserved market.

manwe150 2y ago
If anything, shouldn’t that drive prices down, as landlords now know exactly how much to undercut their competitors to still make a profit but also get more rapid turnover? I thought microeconomic competitive market theory assumes that more information is always a positive influence on markets, at least for the simplified models. Is RealPage a counter example?
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  The agreement between RealPage and the landlord is that they do not undercut RealPage's recommended rent amount.
- Arainach 2y ago
  To use RealPage you have to agree to not sell below their algorithmic price.
telepathy 2y ago
So why is there a housing shortage?
- davidw 2y ago
  NIMBYs, mostly.
- jaakl 2y ago
  It is not a real supply shortage: number of families has not gone up and number of homes has not decreased. It is just increase of demand side, probably due to the printed new money and income increase. People could just live as before but their appetite has grown and it pushes demand up.
- whoknowsidont 2y ago
  Is there? Every time I've looked into this the numbers don't tell that story. What we do see is landlords (corporate and private) taking things off the market on purpose to keep prices up, in addition to the collusion this thread is actively talking about. By every conceivable metric housing has kept up with population. Shortage? No. Constructed scenarios that force people to lower their standard of living so landlords can make more money? Yes.

manwe150 2y ago

If anything, shouldn’t that drive prices down, as landlords now know exactly how much to undercut their competitors to still make a profit but also get more rapid turnover? I thought microeconomic competitive market theory assumes that more information is always a positive influence on markets, at least for the simplified models. Is RealPage a counter example?

SoftTalker 2y ago
The agreement between RealPage and the landlord is that they do not undercut RealPage's recommended rent amount.
Arainach 2y ago
To use RealPage you have to agree to not sell below their algorithmic price.

telepathy 2y ago

So why is there a housing shortage?

davidw 2y ago
NIMBYs, mostly.
jaakl 2y ago
It is not a real supply shortage: number of families has not gone up and number of homes has not decreased. It is just increase of demand side, probably due to the printed new money and income increase. People could just live as before but their appetite has grown and it pushes demand up.
whoknowsidont 2y ago
Is there? Every time I've looked into this the numbers don't tell that story. What we do see is landlords (corporate and private) taking things off the market on purpose to keep prices up, in addition to the collusion this thread is actively talking about. By every conceivable metric housing has kept up with population. Shortage? No. Constructed scenarios that force people to lower their standard of living so landlords can make more money? Yes.