The Justice Department has expanded a lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage, adding six of the biggest landlords and property management companies in the country to the suit and alleging that they coordinated to keep rents artificially high.

North Carolina is joining a bipartisan group of states and the federal government in litigation against a real estate software company accused of illegally conspiring with six large corporate landlords to raise residential rents.

An amended complaint names six landlords as defendants in ongoing litigation that North Carolina and several other states, along with the federal government, began in August.

The real estate companies kept rents high with RealPage's software and by sharing information, the antitrust complaint says.

The lawsuit arrives as U.S. renters continue to struggle. The latest figures show that half of American renters spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities in 2022, an all-time high.

The Justice Department is suing six of the country's largest landlords, along with RealPage, alleging they took part in a pricing scheme that harmed renters. We already know the increase in population and businesses moving to Austin raised rental prices.