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.

Millions of rents across the country may now be set using one company’s algorithmic software, according to a federal lawsuit and a Washington Post analysis.

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.

Federal prosecutors sued the real estate software company RealPage in August, now they're suing some of the company's biggest customers.

Greystar, Blackstone, Camden Property Trust and Cushman & Wakefield are among the firms added to the suit that alleges RealPage enabled landlords to fix rents.

The Department of Justice alleges several property management companies colluded to inflate rents using algorithmic software, harming millions of renters in Houston and across the country.

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.

Several large landlords in the U.S. are being sued by the Justice Department for allegedly coordinating to keep Americans’ rents high. Here’s what to know.