WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, along with co-sponsors Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Senator Wyden (D-OR), introduced the Housing Acquisitions Review and Transparency (HART) Act which requires corporations and private equity firms that snap up large amounts of housing to report those transactions to antitrust enforcers so enforcers can stop anticompetitive transactions that could increase rents, decrease services, and push homebuyers out of the market. Currently, even the largest transactions of residential property are exempted from reporting to the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department for antitrust review. 

“Like far too many parts of our economy, housing is becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of large corporations. As we’ve seen in other cases of unchecked consolidation, consumers often end up paying higher prices for fewer options,” said Klobuchar. “My legislation with Senator Brown will ensure antitrust reporting rules are applied to residential housing so commercial transactions of these properties no longer fly under the radar.”

“In too many communities in Ohio, big private equity investors buy up homes, manufactured housing communities, and apartments, raising local housing prices and raking in profits by jacking up the rent and neglecting repairs while hiding behind opaque holding companies,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. “Our bill will bring much-needed transparency and help place a check on private equity’s predatory behavior.”

“As millions of Americans struggle to make ends meet amidst sky-high housing costs, corporate landlords and private equity firms are taking advantage of the ongoing housing crisis by buying up millions of units and raising rents on families. By removing exemptions used to obscure investments in residential properties by giant corporations, Senator Klobuchar’s legislation empowers antitrust agencies to uphold fair market practices and cut down on unfair price gouging plaguing American families,” said Caroline Ciccone is President of Accountable.US. “Greater transparency is key to ensuring corporate landlord monopolies do not thrive in secret at the expense of tenants.”

The Housing Acquisitions and Transparency Act has been endorsed by the American Antitrust Institute, National Low Income Housing Coalition; the American Economic Liberties Project; P Street; Accountable.US; and the Open Markets Institute.

As Chair of the Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights subcommittee, Klobuchar is a leader in the Senate in pushing to ensure our competition laws protect consumers across all aspects of our economy. 

In May, Klobuchar sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan urging the agency to include commercial real estate acquisitions in antitrust reporting requirements intended to protect consumers.

In October of 2023, U.S. Senator  Klobuchar held a hearing titled Examining Competition and Consumer Rights in Housing Markets, which explored how competition laws can protect consumers and lower prices in housing markets. Among other issues, the hearing exposed how unchecked acquisitions of housing by private equity firms can hurt consumers by driving up rents, boxing out first-time buyers, and reducing services.

In February 2024, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) along with Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Peter Welch (D-VT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), introduced the Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act to prevent companies from using algorithms to collude to set higher prices.

In February 2024, Klobuchar joined Senator Wyden in introducing the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act to ensure that large landlords cannot skirt antitrust law and collude to increase rent prices across the country.

In December 2023, Klobuchar held a hearing that explored how algorithms can be used to harm consumers, titled, The New Invisible Hand? The Impact of Algorithms on Competition and Consumer Rights, which highlighted the potential for laundering nonpublic competitor data in a pricing algorithm to raise prices and included calls for the reforms in the Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act.

In November 2022, Klobuchar, along with Senators Durbin and Booker, urged the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate potential anticompetitive conduct affecting apartment rent rates, voicing their concern that RealPage’s pricing algorithms could artificially inflate rental rates and facilitate collusion.

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