Based on recent Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settlements, and congressional investigations, the “worst offenders” in the financialization of housing can be categorized by their primary methods of extraction: the Algorithmic Colluders (multifamily apartments) and the Wall Street Aggregators (single-family homes).
Here are the specific entities most frequently cited in investigations and litigation.
1. The Algorithmic Colluders (Multifamily Giants)
These companies are central to the DOJ’s massive antitrust lawsuit regarding the use of RealPage software to artificially inflate rents. By sharing private data, they are alleged to have formed a modern “digital cartel.”
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Greystar Real Estate Partners:
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The Scale: The largest property management company in the U.S., managing over 700,000 units.
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The Offense: Greystar is a primary defendant in the RealPage price-fixing lawsuits. In 2024, they also agreed to pay a $24 million settlement to the FTC for hiding “junk fees” (like valet trash and mandatory technology packages) from prospective tenants until after they had paid non-refundable deposits.
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Cortland, Lincoln Property Company, and Cushman & Wakefield:
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The Offense: These major managers are named defendants in the DOJ antitrust suit. They are accused of outsourcing their pricing decisions to algorithms that prioritize “yield” over occupancy, allegedly agreeing to hold units vacant rather than lower prices in competitive markets.
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RealPage:
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The Enabler: While not a landlord, RealPage is the software architect behind the pricing schemes. Their “YieldStar” and “AI Revenue Management” products are accused of facilitating collusion by allowing landlords to effectively price-fix without meeting in a smoke-filled room.
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2. The Wall Street Aggregators (Single-Family Rentals)
These firms bought thousands of starter homes (often competing directly with first-time buyers) and converted them into permanent rental vehicles known for aggressive fees and eviction practices.
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Invitation Homes:
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The Player: The largest owner of single-family rental homes in the U.S. (approx. 80,000+ homes), originally founded by private equity giant Blackstone.
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The Offense: In 2024, Invitation Homes agreed to a $48 million settlement with the FTC. They were charged with deceiving renters about lease costs, charging undisclosed junk fees (e.g., “smart home” fees for technology that didn’t work), and withholding security deposits systematically to cover normal wear and tear.
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Progress Residential (owned by Pretium Partners):
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The Player: The second-largest single-family landlord (approx. 70,000+ homes).
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The Offense: Progress has been labeled a “pandemic evictor” by congressional subcommittees. They have faced lawsuits for aggressive eviction filings—sometimes filing for eviction just days after rent was due, even while receiving federal rental assistance. They are also currently facing class-action scrutiny for discriminatory screening algorithms that disproportionately disqualify Black applicants.
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Pretium Partners:
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The Architect: This is the private equity firm behind Progress Residential. Founded by a former Goldman Sachs partner who bet against the housing market in 2008, Pretium was accused by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project of filing evictions at significantly higher rates in majority-Black counties than in majority-white counties.
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3. The “Junk Fee” Ecosystem
These are the companies that facilitate the extraction of fees, often operating as the “bad cop” to the landlord’s “good cop.”
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Conservice:
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The Role: A third-party utility billing service used by many corporate landlords.
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The Offense: Tenants frequently report that Conservice bills obscure actual utility usage with “service fees” and “administrative charges.” Because the landlord mandates the use of Conservice, tenants have no ability to shop for a better rate or dispute charges directly with the utility provider.
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Qira / Jetty / Rhino:
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The Role: “Deposit alternative” and financial service platforms.
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The Offense: These services are often marketed as helping tenants move in cheaper (by skipping a security deposit), but they actually trap tenants in non-refundable monthly fees that do not go toward the rent. If a tenant misses a payment, these services often act as aggressive debt collectors.
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Brookfield Properties
Brookfield Properties is arguably one of the most sophisticated “offenders” in the financialization of housing because they operate at a level above even the standard corporate landlord. They are not just a housing company; they are a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, a global alternative asset manager with over $1 trillion in assets under management.
While companies like Invitation Homes are “aggregators” of houses, Brookfield is a “Global Titan” that treats entire apartment blocks, malls, and neighborhoods as interchangeable lines on a global balance sheet.
Here is how Brookfield fits into the five-point framework of financialization, based on recent litigation and tenant investigations:
1. The “Quiet” Cartel Member (Algorithmic Pricing)
Brookfield is heavily implicated in the RealPage price-fixing scandal.
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The Settlement: In 2024/2025, Brookfield Properties agreed to pay $5.3 million to settle their portion of the class-action lawsuit alleging they used RealPage’s software to artificially inflate rents.
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The Strategy: Like Greystar and Cortland, Brookfield was accused of sharing their private lease data with RealPage’s algorithm, effectively joining a “digital cartel” to coordinate pricing with competitors rather than competing for tenants.
2. Industrial-Scale “Junk Fees” (The D.C. Case Study)
Brookfield has become the primary target of one of the most organized tenant rebellions in the U.S., specifically regarding their fee structures.
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The “Common Area” Fee: In Washington D.C., Brookfield tenants have organized unions (Brookfield DC Tenants) to fight back against what they call deceptive billing. Tenants allege Brookfield charges opaque “common area utility fees” that can fluctuate wildly (e.g., charging tenants for electricity in the lobby or hallways), effectively passing the building’s operating costs onto the renters on top of the base rent.
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Third-Party Insulation: Brookfield heavily utilizes Conservice (the third-party billing vendor mentioned previously) to process these utility bills. This creates the “insulation from liability” described in Strategy #3, where local leasing agents claim they have “no power” to explain or change the bills because they are generated by a third-party algorithm.
3. Financial Engineering & Asset Inflation
Because Brookfield is a global asset manager, their housing division is under immense pressure to deliver returns to global investors (pension funds, sovereign wealth funds).
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Whistleblower Allegations: In a recent lawsuit (Raffaelli v. Brookfield), a former executive alleged that Brookfield pressured staff to inflate the valuations of certain assets to manufacture better returns on paper. While this specific suit was broader than just housing, it highlights the corporate culture where “forcing appreciation” (Strategy #1) is the primary directive.
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The “Value-Add” Play: Brookfield often buys older buildings, performs cosmetic renovations, and then aggressively “repositions” the asset to a higher luxury tier. This displaces existing moderate-income tenants to replace them with higher-paying demographics, a classic gentrification tactic fueled by global capital.
4. The “Powerless” Leasing Office
One of the most frequent complaints about Brookfield is the complete removal of human discretion (Strategy #2).
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The “PE” Excuse: Tenants report that on-site staff frequently tell them, “We can’t do anything, it’s corporate policy.” Because the owner is a massive private equity firm rather than a local landlord, there is zero room for negotiation on late fees, lease breaks, or renewal rates.
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The “landlord” is effectively a spreadsheet in a New York or Toronto high-rise, not the human in the leasing office.
Where does Brookfield rank?
Brookfield is the “face” of the luxury apartment crisis, If Invitation Homes is the “face” of the single-family crisis,
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The Verdict: They are a Tier 1 Offender.
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Why: They combine the algorithmic collusion of the multifamily giants with the ruthless financial engineering of a global private equity firm.
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They are “worse” in the sense that their sheer size makes them nearly immune to individual tenant pushback—which is why the formation of the Brookfield Tenant Union in D.C. is such a significant development in the fight against financialized housing.
Summary of “Offenders” by Strategy
| Category | Key Players | Primary “Offense” |
| The Price Fixers | Greystar, Cortland, Lincoln Property Co. | Alleged use of RealPage software to cartelize rents; artificially inflating prices via data sharing. |
| The Fee Maximizers | Invitation Homes | $48M FTC settlement for hidden “mandatory” smart home/valet fees and deposit theft. |
| The Aggressive Evictors | Progress Residential (Pretium) | High eviction rates; accused of “churning” tenants to collect late fees and filing fees. |
| The Tech Enablers | RealPage, Conservice | Providing the algorithms and billing shields that allow landlords to extract wealth efficiently. |
| Global Titan | Brookfield Properties | Their sheer size makes them nearly immune to individual tenant pushback |
What makes them “Worse”?
Unlike “slumlords” of the past who simply neglected properties to save money, these financialized offenders actively engineer extraction.
They use data science to find the exact maximum rent a tenant can pay before becoming homeless, and they use legal automation to evict them the moment they fall short, treating the churn of human displacement as a simple line item in a revenue model.