The White House estimates that RealPage software helped American renters spend an additional $3.8 billion last year

The White House has accused RealPage, the algorithmic rent-setting software widely used by landlords and managers, of adding an additional $3.8 billion to tenants’ rents last year.

The White House has long accused the software company of tipping the balance in favor of landlords and property managers when setting rents, unfairly forcing tenants to pay increasingly higher rents. In August, the government’s allegations resulted in an antitrust lawsuit against the company, alleging that the company’s pricing algorithm allowed landlords to continue raising rents.

Don’t miss:

However, with the change in administration, the DOJ recently dropped its lawsuit. RealPage says this justifies them. The recent finding, however, is the DOJ’s attempt to prove its lawsuit was justified. Needless to say, RealPage disputes their findings.

“Their conclusions are based on the incorrect assumption that all property managers set coordinated rents, but that is not how RealPage’s revenue management software (RMS) works,” the software company said.

According to Axios, the government researcher’s methodology was to use RealPage’s software to set prices. They compared this to individual price settings without the software. They found that an algorithmically set rental building costs an average of $70 more per month, increasing in large built-up areas where RealPage software is most common. In Atlanta, for example, where 68% of landlords use RealPage’s software, tenants pay an average of $181 extra per month, according to the government analysis.

See also: During market downturns, investors learn that, unlike stocks, this is the case High-yield real estate bonds paying 7.5% to 9% are protected by resilient assets, which buffer against losses.

According to The New York Times, the government’s lawsuit came after eight states filed suit against the software company and class action attorneys filed complaints against the platform. According to the lawsuits, landlords in cities including Atlanta, Boston, Phoenix, Seattle and Washington DC used RealPage software to prioritize higher rents and accept lower occupancy rates, boosting overall profits and exacerbating the housing crisis.

Story continues