Crexi Adds Residential Rental Data As Rent Algorithms Face Limits

Strong, accurate residential rent data is becoming a prized asset as lawsuits, regulators and new state laws upend how landlords set rents.​

Los Angeles-based commercial real estate platform Crexi is moving to capitalize on that demand. The company has partnered with Dwellsy, a rental marketplace with extensive residential properties, to plug rent data into Crexi Intelligence.​

While it strengthens what Crexi offers clients, the deal also ups the ante in a heated rivalry with CoStar Group, the commercial real estate data market leader it has been battling in court for five years.​

CoStar sued Crexi in a California federal court, alleging the company stole thousands of property images from its platforms. Crexi made an antitrust counterclaim against CoStar, lost, and then won on appeal. In December, CoStar asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.​

Crexi’s deal also comes as major apartment companies and data firms settle lawsuits over using revenue management software that incorporates algorithms. Renters accused national apartment landlords and data analytics companies RealPage and Yardi Systems of price fixing and inflating rents.​

Not using algorithms is a point of differentiation for San Francisco-based Dwellsy, a 2019 startup.​

“Just accurate raw data,” Jonas Bordo, Dwellsy’s CEO and founder, told The Builder’s Daily.​

The lawsuits arose as housing affordability concerns grew. Former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department sued RealPage in 2024 over the practice. The two sides reached a settlement agreement late last year.​

California, Connecticut and New York lawmakers, seeking to address housing affordability, passed laws last year to ban or limit algorithmic rent-setting tools. Lawmakers in other states are considering similar legislation.​

What Crexi is getting in residential rental data

Dwellsy is a free marketplace for landlords and property managers. The company’s revenue model is selling the property and market-level insights it has for more than 620,000 rental properties. The properties include single-family homes, townhomes, mobile homes and apartments, covering 6.9 million historical units and 4.4 million matched listings.​

“Our marketplace listings represent over 75% of professionally managed rentals, ensuring the data reflects the actual market,” Bordo said. “Unlike legacy approaches that rely on scraping, surveys, or other indirect methods, Dwellsy delivers accurate, up-to-date rent statistics and comps.”​

Crexi’s leadership said the integration allows brokers, investors, and appraisers to review sales and rent comparables in one place, rather than juggling multiple systems. The updated Crexi Intelligence platform shows nearby rent comps, heat maps, neighborhood benchmarks, and exportable visual reports.​

The aim is faster analysis, cleaner underwriting and more confidence in deal assumptions. Its Dwellsy integration is meant to help professionals price deals using transparent historical numbers.​

“Multifamily analysis has long meant switching between platforms and spreadsheets,” Crexi CEO Michael DeGiorgio said in a statement. “We’re bringing everything into one workflow so users can move faster and make decisions with confidence.”