Report envisions benefits for Atlanta homeowners using RealPage

Business owners using RealPage’s technology saw big increases in profits while tenants struggled with high rents, according to a new report released by a Washington-based think tank.

Progressive watchdog Accountable.US’ report on six multifamily apartment companies, including three operating in Atlanta, found they made $300 million in combined profits during the first financial quarter of 2024. The group attributes the increase in profits, at least in part, to rents. increase.

Accountable.US examined the profits of Mid-America Apartments, based in Germantown, Tennessee; AvalonBay Communities of Arlington County, Virginia; Equity Residential, based in Chicago; Essex Property Trust, headquartered in San Mateo, California; UDR from Highlands Ranch, Colorado; and Camden Property Trust, based in Houston, Texas.

Liz Zelnick, an executive with the group, said the nonprofit analyzed the financial reports of the six largest publicly traded apartment companies and listened to earnings calls. She said that between them the companies own nearly 350,000 units.

“There are so many people struggling to pay their rent right now. We’re seeing business owners buying up more and more properties across the country and maximizing their profits, they’re raising rents, and now They “reuse RealPage, which is basically pricing,” she said.

The National Multifamily Housing Council, a public policy group representing the multifamily housing industry, disputed the group’s findings. Its president, Sharon Wilson Géno, noted that the multifamily rental sector is struggling with rising insurance rates, construction costs and local and state taxes, in addition to other inflationary pressures.

“What really drives rent prices is the housing shortage in the United States,” Geno said. “Whenever there is a shortage, prices will go up.”

The June 12 report follows the FBI’s recent raid on the Atlanta headquarters of property management company Cortland Management. Additionally, five of the companies mentioned in the new report have been named as defendants in the closely watched antitrust case against RealPage in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee. The lawsuit claims that RealPage and the companies conspired to artificially inflate the price of rent by relying on price-fixing software.

In addition to the increased scrutiny business owners face because of the criminal investigation, state prosecutors have taken action against the tech company and business owners using the software. They face antitrust lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of Washington DC and Arizona.

RealPage has not commented on the report’s findings. But the company’s lawyer, Stephen Weissman, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this month that the litigation was “politically opportunistic.”

Mid-America Apartments, Equity Residential and Camden Property Trust all operate apartments in Atlanta. The companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Mid-America Apartments, which saw net income increase 6 percent to $147.6 million, has nearly 12,000 units in metro Atlanta, according to the group. Camden Property Trust reported a 97% increase in net profit to $85.8 million as it spent $50 million on share buybacks, the group said, and owns more than 4,000 units in the region. Equity Residential’s net income soared 39% to $305 million and the company has about 2,000 units in metro Atlanta, officials at the think tank said.

Rents decreased 3.7% in the Atlanta area compared to March 2023, according to a March rent report from real estate listings company Realtor.com.

But renters can still expect to pay a median rent above $2,100, according to Zillow, which found that from 2019 to 2023, rent increases outpaced wage growth.

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies released a report earlier this year suggesting that nearly half of all renters in the United States spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.

Those in the single- and multi-family rental industry say there is too much emphasis on the influence of business owners, with housing shortages the driving factor in rising rents. Some estimates suggest that between four and seven million homes would be needed to meet housing demand, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts.