Algorithmic Rent Pricing in the Headlines

Apartment rent-setting tools are under fire. In early September, San Francisco became the nation’s first city to ban the use of select pricing software when making apartment rent positioning decisions. The regulation specifically prohibits algorithmic pricing systems that tap into nonpublic, competitive property performance data — such as individual project vacancy levels or executed lease prices — rather than visible advertised rents. While the new rules are worded in broad language, the immediate impact registers with property owners and operators that have been making pricing choices guided by recommendations from the revenue management tools of RealPage, Inc.