US reps urge DOJ to investigate anticompetitive conduct affecting apartment rent

Post by grecy » Tue, Nov 29, 2022, 12:30 AM UTC

rtpg wrote: post #44

cheriot wrote: post #30

> pricing algorithms to adjust prices on vacant apartments in real time… The program may also induce landlords to charge the rents recommended by the algorithm, putting upward pressure on prices and decreasing the availability of affordable apartments. Wait until she hears about hotels and flights. > The software analyzes non-public data that RealPage gathers from its property management clients, including confidenti…

Hotels and flights are, granted, less essential than a place to live. Remember, you _have to live somewhere_. That is a functional difference compared to other "market-based" things (never mind that "market-based solutions" are a lot less workable when atomicity is lost. Yeah yeah, regulations making things harder to build, I think more should be built! But there are real, "wanted" things in the way of just having ma…

Post by mikebenfield » Tue, Nov 29, 2022, 12:31 AM UTC

jmyeet wrote: post #21

Price controls are ineffective long term but can be a useful stopgap measure in the short term. The only solution to this is dealing with supplyside issues, notably the artificial constraints on housing supply. This is longer term.So the pricing algorithms are a natural reaction to market forces. Here are some more important things you can do in the short term to increase supply: 1. Outlaw (at the local and state lev…

Post by ceejayoz » Tue, Nov 29, 2022, 12:32 AM UTC

vkou wrote: post #49

ceejayoz wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But they aren't banding together. Sure, just like Uber is "ride sharing" where the drivers pick the price. "We're all just using the same software" is a thin veneer over what amounts to collusion to raise prices. > There is no mechanism for keeping other landlords from leaving the software, and there are multiple competing alternatives. The mechanism is "you lose money" (countries can leave OPEC, but it's still a c…

Drivers don't pick the price in Uber (Or with traditional taxis), they only signal whether or not they are willing to work. You can't be a driver and undercut other drivers on that platform. But nothing stops a landlord from undercutting any other landlord. It's the difference between the Uber 'Marketplace' and an actual market. > The mechanism is "you lose money" Yes, that's a market mechanism, it's not a cartel mec…

Post by alar44 » Tue, Nov 29, 2022, 12:33 AM UTC

woodruffw wrote: post #52

cheriot wrote: post #30

> pricing algorithms to adjust prices on vacant apartments in real time… The program may also induce landlords to charge the rents recommended by the algorithm, putting upward pressure on prices and decreasing the availability of affordable apartments. Wait until she hears about hotels and flights. > The software analyzes non-public data that RealPage gathers from its property management clients, including confidenti…

What comparison between hotels and flights is being missed? I don't know as much about hotel pricing, but my understanding of flight pricing is that it's done with buckets of fare classes: prices are set in buckets, and they only go up (or down) as each bucket is exhausted (or re-opened, if a ticket is canceled). I'm sure it's more complicated than that these days, but I don't think it's directly comparable to the re…

Post by rtpg » Tue, Nov 29, 2022, 12:36 AM UTC

grecy wrote: post #51

rtpg wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels and flights are, granted, less essential than a place to live. Remember, you _have to live somewhere_. That is a functional difference compared to other "market-based" things (never mind that "market-based solutions" are a lot less workable when atomicity is lost. Yeah yeah, regulations making things harder to build, I think more should be built! But there are real, "wanted" things in the way of just having ma…

> Remember, you _have to live somewhere_. You also _have_ to get education, healthcare and a whole lot more than nobody is doing anything about making any kind of affordable.