Competition Bureau says it's probing whether landlords are using AI to set rents

A rental sign is seen outside a building in Ottawa, Thursday, April 30, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — The Competition Bureau has confirmed it’s investigating the possible use of AI-driven algorithmic pricing in Canadian real estate rental markets.

The practice involves real estate companies using programs that track what competitors are charging for rent and leases.

An American antitrust lawsuit alleges companies are using this software to collude and artificially inflate rents.

That lawsuit claims dozens of companies used the Texas-based RealPage’s YieldStar platform to share competitively sensitive information about rental rates to train algorithmic pricing software.

The U.S. Justice Department amended the lawsuit last month to include six additional corporate landlords they allege took part in the “scheme” to use their competitors' commercially sensitive data to fix prices.

The independent media outlet The Breach first reported the Competition Bureau was investigating on Nov. 27, 2024, but the bureau would not confirm it at the time.

Competition Bureau spokesperson Cloé Bouchard said that, as a law enforcement agency, the bureau must keep its work confidential and can offer no further details at this time.

“If we find evidence of activities that could raise concerns under the law, we will take action,” she said in an emailed statement.

The NDP first called on the Competition Bureau to look into the matter back in September.

In October 2024, B.C. NDP MP Bonita Zarrillo tried to get the House of Commons human resources committee to investigate the issue, but her motion was unsuccessful.

Later that month, Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he’d write to the Competition Bureau to request an investigation of the practice.

Zarrillo said she’s glad to hear the bureau is looking into the issue.

“Finally, the renters in this country are going to get some transparency and shine a light on this rent price fixing,” she said.

Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland said Monday she would ban the practice of using AI to track market trends and artificially raise rents.

“Big corporate landlords are using AI to analyze renters’ information to collude, set rates, and squeeze renters. My government will ban this practice outright,” Freeland’s policy statement said.

Zarillo said she thinks Freeland is pitching this policy because her chief rival for the Liberal leadership, former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, was once the chair of Brookfield Asset Management.

Three Brookfield subsidiaries are listed as defendants in the American antitrust lawsuit.

“Now they’re in a Liberal leadership race and Chrystia Freeland realizes that Mark Carney’s weak on this side. He’s exposed on this rent price fixing, potentially,” Zarrillo said.

Carney resigned from Brookfield in January to run for the Liberal leadership.

Carney’s campaign has not responded to The Canadian Press’s request for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2025.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press