Landlords and property managers can't collude on rental pricing. Using new technology to do it doesn't change that antitrust fundamental.
Price fixing is indeed anti-competitive & illegal.
(Back when I was a real estate broker, I opposed
the Board Of Realtor's fixing commissions. Finally,
this has been stopped.)
The underlying problem here is the difficulty &
expense of creating new housing to compete
with price fixers who control much of the
market.
High profits should attract development. But
anyone who's ever tried to develop rental property
knows this is a slow, spendy, & tricky process.
Governments demand things that increase the
costs greatly, eg, giving away some units for
subsidized housing, high permit fees, requiring
"donations" to fire departments or others with
their hands out. (I once had to pay for the design
of a municipal sewage system.)
I don't do development anymore. Too hateful
a business...it involves politics & payoffs.
