Dive Brief:
- RealPage has won a pause on New York’s recent algorithmic rent-pricing restrictions while the federal court mulls the real estate software provider’s argument that the new law violates the First Amendment, according to Sept. 29 filings in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. The court also denied the state’s January request to dismiss the lawsuit.
- Last November, RealPage sued New York state on free speech grounds and asked for a preliminary injunction on its residential rent-pricing algorithm prohibition, which took effect in December 2025. RealPage claimed that the statute is overly broad and prohibits protected speech, namely, its algorithmic pricing advice, “by equating these recommendations with ‘an unlawful agreement,’” per the filing.
- RealPage told the court that without an injunction, the firm risked “self-censoring, penalties, and prosecution” for engaging in constitutionally protected speech, according to the filing. The court determined that “algorithmically-informed recommendations of housing prices — is commercial speech” and agreed to hold off on enforcement.
Dive Insight:
In October 2025, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed S.7882, amending the state’s existing antitrust law to prohibit anyone from facilitating an agreement between residential rental property owners or managers “to not compete with respect to residential rental dwelling units, including by operating or licensing a software, data analytics service, or algorithmic device.”
RealPage sued in response, arguing in its Nov. 26 complaint that the law represents a “sweeping and unconstitutional ban on lawful speech specifically intended to outlaw software developed and sold by companies like Plaintiff RealPage, Inc. that provide information and advice to owners and managers of rental properties.” The following month, it asked the court to pause enforcement while its case was heard.
The court affirmed in the most recent filing that the crux of RealPage’s business model is the “communication of pricing information to its users,” and that New York’s law “expressly” regulates that communication.
Historically, RealPage has generated rent pricing recommendations using a blend of private and public data, but it has mostly transitioned away from the former as part of a November 2025 settlement agreement with the Department of Justice in a separate case.
New York is the first state to impose such a ban, but cities like Jersey City, New Jersey; Providence, Rhode Island; Philadelphia; Minneapolis; San Francisco; and Seattle have passed similar measures.
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