[Forge36]

Legally it depends (I am not a lawyer)

The DOJ is likely to pursue this as collusion[1] which had legal precedent.

In this case: both parties intentional gathered to review prices together (through use of a third party).

Some bits from the article RealPage allowed landlords to "share confidential data" and "to suggest rents and term".

I don't know to what degree suggestions were made. If they were consistently suggesting increases: It's may be less similar to "looking at your competitor" and more "competitors agreeing to continuously notify each other of a price increase"

If it's also sharing occupancy statistics notification of an inelastic market could also be a contributing factor.

[1]: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/assistant-attorney-general-jo...