The Invisible Landlord: RealPage and the Algorithmic Suppression of Rent Competition in North Carolina
<p class="p1">This report documents how RealPage--a revenue management software--operates across 8 North Carolina counties(Cabarrus, Craven, Iredell, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Pender, Union, and Wake) and what state lawmakers can do about it. The findings are detailed in full in the sections within the report, but the picture is consistent: RealPage-affiliated landlords control a substantial share of the rental market in every county studied, and North Carolina has no law on the books to stop them. This report is an outcome of the collective work of all participants in Spring 2026 PLAN 823: Algorithms and the Future of Affordable Housing.
Authors
- Jason Merrill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0753-813X)
- Rhea Brown
- Renee Tapp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2893-2534)
- Lily Hayward (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5728-6595)
- Aidan Aciukewicz
- Jackson Dille
- Sha'lise Oliver
- Aditya Roy
- Britney Watson
- Thomas Johnson
- Megan Goyer
- Jennifer Watkins
- Olivia Levine
- Devin Rooney
- Morgan Thorstenson
- Paul Warner
- Alejandro Cotte Alsina
- Manuel Valbuena Pena
- Nea Strawn
- Brianna Beadle
- Klaus Mayr
- Benjamin Jacobs
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- UNC Libraries
- Published
- 2026-05-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.17615/8ej0-tw32
- Primary Topic
- Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00