Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why.

https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent

Interesting article. Most mainstream publications seem to only tackle the lack of supply due to zoning restrictions and NIMBY policies. They are definitely part of the problem but if someone is pushing an agenda that it is the only problem, odds are that person is somehow involved in real estate development as in there is self interest in painting that as the only problem. They definitely don't want the public to think that price fixing is also a problem.


One of the most telling aspects in this article is an employee of Yeildstar just saying it out loud that the goal is to remove empathy from price negotiations. The premise is that landlords aren't maximizing their revenue by having face to face negotiations because often that involves some level of empathy. Replacing that with an algorithm where a landlord can just point to it and say "but this is what the market tells me" removed that empathy factor.

I don't see how this isn't a cartel. Landlords jack up the price, algorithms show that and then everyone follows suit. And there is no end to it until societal breakdown because housing has inelastic demand. So if every 2 bedroom apartment is 2800 dollars a month, what choice does a family have? They need a ****ing roof right?

It seems like capitalism and housing don't mix well.

 

I understand that it's a very human thing to want to maximize your return on investment. I don't think you are some inherent evil or anything. I think you are taking advantage of a system that most of us would if we were also in your position. I don't want to you to feel threatened.

I just don't want price negotiations for a inelastic product being based on algorithms that allow proce fixing.

 

It's not a secret in the sense that people with some curiosity on this matter can easily find this out.

But if someone just consumed mainstream coverage of the current problem with rising rent, they would assume the only issue is NIMBYism and zoning restrictions( lack of supply)

 

It definitely is a significant part of the rise of rent.

You don't need an algorithmic software that allows basically a cartel form of price fixing to offset any rise in your property tax. You can determine the proper value on your own without any of this software.

People who work for this company literally are telling you that the point of the software is to remove empathy from the equation.

 

Also if you think there isn't any precedent here that this is completely illegal, The DOJ deemed the exact same thing that was done with Alaskan Airlines and their algorithmic software as illegal price fixing.

Even more, the exact same people who were with Alaskan Airlines who developed that program are the same people who created Yeildstar with the exact same premise.

 

If you want to create algorithmoloc price fixing software for Pokemon cards or Bourbon, go for it. There is no immorality there.

But we are talking about ****ing HOUSING

 

This entire time I'm making fun of your hypocrisy.

The difference here is I believe housing is inelastic and a necessity to live and that your tweet about Hunter Biden on Twitter is not a basic necessity for sustained living.

 

that's the part you don't get.

If there is a nation wide algorithm for price fixing, you can't escape it. Rent has been going up in even those "poor places" because of this.

Housing is inelastic in demand. That means a group of landlords in an area can arbitrarily shoot up their prices and then the algorithm will think that's part of the market and then every other property shoots up in value.

That's what price fixing is.

Literally the DOJ found this exact same scheme illegal with airline pricing.

And last time I checked housing is more inelastic in demand than traveling through air.

 

Why do right wingers always assume when someone is advocating against some type of unsustainable trend as self interest? Is it projection?

b****, I have a more profitable profession than you.

I don't need empathy from you. All I need to do is convince you that this isn't sustainable society wide.