The real reason for high rents

When I moved to Durango two years ago, I was given the choice between two apartments located around downtown that were in outdated, unrepaired or under-repaired condition with holes in the drywall, exposed screws that were holding in a bathtub insert, no washer or dryer, and street parking in very crowded areas. The family who owned the two apartments wanted $5,000 to move in and had no interest in remodeling or making concessions. They own more than 50 units in town. The reason they can charge so much for a one-bedroom apartment is not because there is a ski hill up the road and not because vacationers will rent from them. These landlords were not offering short-term rentals, and vacationers would not be appeased with the condition these apartments are in.

The real reason is because our nation’s largest landlord, Greystar, owns 150-plus units in Durango, including the Three Springs Confluence and the River Roost apartments. Greystar, of course, is being sued by the Justice Department, accused of illegally colluding with five other companies of fixing rents and tacking on hidden fees (tinyurl.com/yck6dx7a)

I wound up renting from Greystar, not knowing it was about to be sued by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. At the time, Greystar had the only available apartments in Durango with a dedicated parking lot and a washer and dryer. I knew my lease was over-priced, but I didn’t know why until now.

Headlines like, “Justice Department Sues Six Large Landlords for Algorithmic Pricing Scheme that Harms Millions of American Renters,” started to appear in the news last year, marking 2025 as a year of hopeful action toward illegal and unethical practices by our nation’s largest landlords (corporate landlords, I might add).

According to Acting Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, while renters across the country struggled to afford housing, the landlords shared sensitive information about rental prices and used algorithms to keep rents high. “Today’s action … seeks to end their practice of putting profits over people and make housing more affordable for millions of people across the country,” Mekki said.

The FTC and the State of Colorado are also taking action against Greystar, the nation’s largest multi-family rental property manager, for deceiving consumers by tacking fees on top of advertised rent prices. According to the complaint, these fees have cost renters in Greystar properties hundreds of millions of dollars since at least 2019, and consumers often do not discover the fees until after they sign a lease or move in.

This absolutely explains why rental prices for your average, or even below average, one- and two-bedroom apartments seem overpriced. In some areas, they are overpriced by $800 - $1,000 a month. This must stop. The average American can barely afford to own a home, and now people are paying well more than 30% of their income to corporate landlords who are accused of violating antitrust laws. Local landlords are basing their rent off these numbers set by corporate landlords.

Will greed ever end? I don’t think so, but this may be the year when overpricing one- and two-bedroom apartments at the expense of those who cannot afford a house comes to an end. One can only hope.

– Ryan Boyd, Durango