The U.S. Department of Justice has accused several Houston-area landlords of colluding to inflate rent prices, expanding its antitrust case against RealPage, a Texas-based company whose software at the center of an alleged rent price-fixing effort.

The DOH had sued property management software company RealPage of letting landlords collude by sharing their pricing information with the company's software, which then recommends rent prices.

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.

Cushman & Wakefield was among six large landlords sued by the U.S. Department of Justice over alleged anticompetitive practices in housing rental markets, the DOJ said on Tuesday.

Six of the country’s most powerful landlords were named in a lawsuit brought forth by the U.S. Justice Department. Blackstone, Cushman & Wakefield, Greystar, Camden, Pinnacle, Willow Bridge, and Cortland were all implicated.

The U.S. Justice Department is suing several large landlords for allegedly coordinating to keep Americans’ rents 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.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed an amended complaint Tuesday alleging six of the nation’s largest landlords — including Dallas-based Willow Bridge Property Co. — participated in an illegal scheme allowing landlords to increase rental prices and decrease competition.